Bala and Viljoen have edited and contributed to a collection of well-chosen essays analyzing the impact of contagious disease on colonial societies…. three threads applicable to European imperialism at large emerge. First, the epidemics that occurred were the products of European agency. Contagious diseases appeared in the regions marked by European trade, settlement, and the requisition of labor. Second, the epidemics aggravated existing divisions in colonial societies. The common experience of death and disruption did not bring settlers and Indigenes together, but rather fostered suspicion and contention. In the examples presented, both the colonizers and Indigenous peoples invoked their own healers and remedies, while the European administrators stood aloof as they imposed quarantine and sanitation measures. Third, the epidemics allowed Europeans to regard the bodies of the Indigenes as reservoirs of contagion, a view that facilitated the construction of hierarchical and parallel colonial societies. Taken together, the essays illustrate a needed focus on the historical role played by contagious diseases in the progress and manifestations of European imperialism. Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates. Graduate students and faculty.

Choice Reviews

It has been fifty years since Alfred Crosby elucidated the consequences of colonialism and conquest in his book, the Colonial Exchange. Since then, scholars from a variety of fields have added to a growing body of knowledge on the medical, social, political, and economic effects of the transmission of disease through imperial contacts. In this new collection of essays, Epidemic Encounters, editors Poonam Bala and Russel Viljoen offer a superb collection of fourteen chapters on diverse topics from the exchange of knowledge on botanical medicinals, the nature of collaboration by peripheral agents, to ‘forgotten pandemics.’ The broader effects of disease transmission to virgin, indigenous peoples are vividly portrayed in chapters detailing ecological devastation, migrant labor shortages, population displacement, and other long-term consequences of epidemic diseases. The geographical and topical scope of the collection is truly impressive. More than a simple recitation of familiar topics, this volume provides a more granular and expanding view of the linkage between colonial exchange and its long-lasting effects. In a world still struggling with the global Corona virus pandemic, this volume provides a warning of possible long-term effects of epidemics and the lingering legacy of imperialism.

Jeffrey Jentzen, University of Michigan

The spread of infectious diseases both aided and undermined colonial projects around the globe. This timely and geographically diverse collection draws together fine scholarship and multiple voices to dissect the impact of epidemics on empire. It offers an excellent entry point and a substantive update on the historical maladies of imperialism.

Peter Hobbins, Australian National Maritime Museum and The University of Sydney