Magyar László szerk.: Orvostörténeti Közlemények 174-177. (Budapest, 2001)

TANULMÁNYOK — ARTICLES - Máthé-Shires László: Who Lives Where? British Anti-Malaria Policy in Southern-Nigeria (1899-1912)

ognition that for them too, malaria was the single largest health threat. At the very same time in the Protectorate medical expenses were lower or at the same level of Lagos' and malaria policy was restricted to the preservation of European health, although, as we have seen, even this was questioned by Egerton when he advocated the abolition of free quinine distribution. After the amalgamation of Lagos and the protectorate in 1906, Srtachan managed to carry on MacGregor's policies up to his retirement in 1911. While his medical policy was not questioned by Egerton, he was attacked by the Governor over some administrative issues that turned out to be simple questions of symbolic authority between the two of them. Yet, when Egerton had the chance, he initiated his 'race-course' project, a single massive plan based making use of the segregation discourse but in fact, aiming at the expropriation of land from Africans in Lagos downtown at low costs. The question naturally arises as to what were the possibilities of the different administrations? MacGregor certainly had a situation where he could have initiated a different line of policy, similar to that of Freetown (the construction of Hill Station) or Accra (moving away to a segregated European settlement outside of town). The governor initiated an active and reformed policy instead. The Protectorate's administration was certainly in a worse situation because of the vast and largely uncontrolled territory and because of the huge African population. Quinine distribution and urban sanitation definitely existed as options yet they were not implemented on a large scale. Although symbolic, the chocolate-coated quinine pills for African children reveal an attitude that was totally different when we compare it with MacGregor's activities with the Lagos Ladies League. It is difficult to say who actually read Kipling's lines of 'bidding the sickness cease' but it is easy to say who acted accordingly. Early colonial administrations had different facets, as the above stories reveal. This difference is important since it shows that the contemporary health policies were not onesided and undebated issues. Based on the comparison of Lagos and the Protectorate malaria policies, it is safe to suggest that some people had different ideas about the British imperial mission in the colonial territories as early as the first decade of the twentieth century. LÁSZLÓ MÁTHÉ-SHIRES, MA, ELTE BTK British Studies Program H-1024 Budapest Keleti K. u. 8. Hungary ÖSSZEFOGLALÁS Az utóbbi évtizedek történetírásában új tendencia jelent meg, amely orvosi és egészségügyi kérdésekben, a korábban politikasemleges szempontokat mellőzve, a politikumot hangsúlyozza. Ez a megközelítés legsikeresebben politikailag érzékeny közegekben alkalmazható. Ilyen politikailag érzékeny közegnek tekinthetők a gyarmati — s még inkább a trópusi gyarmati — rendszerek. A kérdést vizsgáló szakirodalom eddig elsősorban a járványokkal foglalkozott, hiszen az epidémiák mind időben, mind pedig térben jól határolhatók. A malária nem járványos, endémikus formája azonban — amely a nyugat-afrikai térségre jellemző — mindeddig kevesebb figyelmet kapott.