ANTICOLONIALISM AND PANDEMICS

Pandemics are often thought to be 'great levellers', but as the current coronavirus shows us, they don't hit people equally. In this episode, we explore two historical cases where pandemics, and the fight against them, were intertwined with colonial and anticolonial politics. Rachel brings forward the case of Te Puea, a Maori leader who became a nationwide beloved figure in New Zealand during the outbreak of Spanish Flu in 1918/1919. Matthijs recounts the story of Indonesian nationalist and anticolonial leader Tjipto Mangoenkoesoemo, who was employed as a 'native doctor' during the 1910 plague in Java.

MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE

Rachel's article on citizenship rhetoric, anticolonial struggles and World War I: https://doi.org/10.1080/19475020.2019.1583119

Tjipto Mangoenkoesoemo's pamphlet on the plague: https://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=MMUBL07:000003460

ABOUT

Brought to you by the UGlobe Decolonisation Group

Hosted by Rachel Gillett and Matthijs Kuipers

Sound by Stephan Venmans

Music by CarlosCarty (CC-BY-3.0)