The Caribbean and the medical imagination, 1764-1834 : slavery, disease and colonial modernity /

By the 18th century, the Caribbean had earned a reputation as "the grave of Europeans" because of the rapid spread of contagion in the region. In The Caribbean and the Medical Imagination, Senior (literature, University College London) examines the literary and epistemological exchanges between Britain and its colonies in the Atlantic while highlighting the under-explored contributions of African-Caribbean medical knowledge. By drawing on a variety of texts, including slaveholder documents, British medical texts and treatises, travel writings, and poetry, Senior demonstrates that literature was an important vehicle in the production and circulation of medical and scientific knowledge concerning issues of race, climate and geography, and identity. In her telling, the transnational exchanges of African-Caribbean, British Creole, and European medical ideas not only contributed to the medicalization of bodies, spaces, and texts but also figured strongly in shaping the region's shifting identities and cultures. Readers with limited knowledge of Caribbean history might wish for more historical context. This multidisciplinary and well-researched work is an excellent contribution to the fields of literary criticism and the cultural history of medicine. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above.--Holly Caldwell, Chestnut Hill College