Medical Anthropology, Subaltern Traces, and the Making and Meaning of Western Medicine in South Africa: 1895–1899

All things in nature are interesting to study, and especially humanity. The different phases in the different classes of life cannot fail to be interesting, and a medical man can gain a far greater insight through such study into the domestic life of his fellow creatures than anyone else.The word “progress” has its true meaning and significance in the higher walks of medicine. It does not mean a mere improvement in the principles and art of healing. It means a practical victory and conquest over nature by man. Now the greatest of all the aims of civilisation is the acquisition of natural knowledge, the conquest and subdual of nature to the service of the happiness of man.The aim of the present paper is to examine the concept of western medicine in South Africa by exploring the forms through which its authority was established. The paper is based on an analysis of theSouth African Medical Journal (SAMJ), which resurfaced after 1893 as a monthly publication. Rather than seeing theSAMJas a documentary source, I consider it to be a powerful representation of the making and meaning of western medicine and an indicator of the ascendancy and limits of western medicine. Most importantly, theSAMJillustrates the intersection between an emergent western medical episteme and a larger colonial discourse of race and sexuality.

The emergence of psychological themes in the South African Medical Journal, 1927–1975

The articles published in the South African Medical Journal between 1927 and 1975 were examined for the presence of psychological and psychiatric themes. Two hundred and seventy-seven articles and editorials were identified and analysed. The relative space allocated to issues psychological remained quite stable at low levels in the period under investigation. The following themes are discussed: psychopathology and treatment, psychoneuroses, psychology and physical disease, psychological testing, and psychology as an auxiliary to the medical profession.