Mahamari Plague: Rats, Colonial Medicine and Indigenous Knowledge in Kumaon and Garhwal, India
Authors
Christos Lynteris
Department of Social Anthropology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, UK
Keywords:
KEYWORDS: Colonialism, India, indigenous knowledge, Mahamari, plague, rats
Abstract
ABSTRACT
Colonial approaches to animal and zoonotic diseases are often scrutinized in terms of their recognition or dismissal of indigenous knowledge. In this article I examine British colonial approaches to “Mahamari plague” in mid-nineteenth century Kumaon and Garhwal, in the Indian Himalayas. Discussing two key colonial medical expeditions in the region, I argue that the eventual recognition of the validity of Kumaoni and Garhwali knowledge of Mahamari and its relation to rats intensified intrusive colonial intervention on indigenous lifeways. I examine this neglected impact of the colonial recognition of indigenous knowledge and urge for approaches that place more emphasis on the practical impact of colonial epistemologies.
KEYWORDS: Colonialism, India, indigenous knowledge, Mahamari, plague, rats
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