“Administering Colonial Science: Nutrition Research and Human Biomedical Experimentation in Aboriginal Communities and Residential Schools, 1942-1952” – Ian Mosby
With the theme of this week being about embodying citizenship, this article by Ian Mosby wrote, really focused on the “Indian Problem”.[1] The idea that these people should not be treated like white Canadians, has been a common part of history, but there is only a certain amount of information that is taught in schools, so as we read articles like this one, we are able to learn more about this community of people. This was seen as a problem because the Aboriginal community seemed to be having more health problems, than everyone else in society. This caused distress because the Aboriginal people were already seen as an unwanted part of society. Having health become a fundamental topic in society, there was a large amount of focus placed on the health of everyone and the increase in illness in the Aboriginal community. Not only was health a major focus in the Aboriginal community, but it became a focus in the residential school. It was suggested in this article that when the schools were looked at by health investigators, the meals provided for the children, were substantially better than usually, but the investigators still found major health concerns at the schools. This article discusses certain experiments that were conducted amongst the Aboriginal community that were considered mistreatment and they played into the future polices that were created in terms of treatment of the Aboriginal Community. This article provided some additional information to the knowledge I had in this area prior to, but it had some interesting additions, such as the investigators in the residential schools and how the meals were changed to make the management look more adequate.
“The impact of Colonization on Aboriginal Health in British Columbia” – Mary Ellen Kelm
This article discussed the impact and issues that arose as the medicalization of society, became more prominent. This caused the Aboriginal community to run into some issues with their lifestyle and how they have dealt with illness in the past, with their natural remedies. Mary Ellen Kelm touched on the idea of how the Aboriginal community, has a unique way of thinking of every member of their society. It was stated “a missing person became a missing piece of the circle which could not be replaced.”[2] It was also discusses the idea that Aboriginal’s bodies were considerably strong when under attack of illness, their ability to handle diseases, with their traditional lifestyle. The state began to implement all new health regulations and began to take it more seriously, Kelm suggested that the use of a doctor became increasingly normalized which caused struggle for the Aboriginal community, as it pushed them away from their traditional lifestyle. I found this article to have interesting components, due to the idea that the Aboriginal community was confident in their lifestyle and how they pushed back for so long when it came to accommodating the new ideas of health.
“Care for the ‘Racially Careless’: Indian Hospitals in the Canadian West, 1920-1950s” – Maureen K. Lux
This article by Maureen K. Lux was really interesting as there was a large amount of evidence provided in terms of how the Aboriginal community was really pushed aside and they were treated unfairly in compared to the rest of society. There were certain hospitals that refused to take in patients of the Aboriginal community, and there were hospitals that separated these patients, so they would not infect anyone else. This idea was disconnected to the idea of citizenship, as this community of people was denied of equal medical attention, these people were seen as less than adequate to receive the same rights and opportunities as everyone else. The Aboriginal community was denied the same medical attention as the rest of society, but then deemed ‘careless’[3] because they were sick more than everyone else. The state become very involved in deciding who and what level of care was received by these people. The idea of the state being able to decide who is granted the access to health care and to what extent was concerned health. Lux suggests that the Aboriginal community was ill more than the rest of society, and due to the lack of hospitals taking people in for treatment, illness spread through the community. Lux also suggests that not only did the illness spread in community of Aboriginals, it also spread in the hospitals as the sick Aboriginal people were contained in the same segregated section of the hospital. Tuberculosis, was discussed extensively in this article, and it was suggested that it was commonly spread between Aboriginals and it was even stated that “children admitted for other medical conditions contracted tuberculosis in the hospitals.”[4] The idea that the Aboriginal community was denied medical care to the level of everyone else, was new information to me, as I was reading it, and it was quite shocking to me. It seems to be an important part of their history that we might not learn about if we are never drawn to this area of research.
“Ideal Births and Ideal Babies: English-Canadian Advice Literature in the 1950s and 1960s” – Sally Mennill
This article is one I plan on using for my research paper and it was a really good article to pick for this week because it talks about embodying citizens, in terms of pregnant women. It touches on how childbirth needed to occur in the hospitals more regularly as it was required for doctors to ensure the health of both the mother and the child. This really shifted the independence of women giving birth to their child at their home, and placed increasing amount of outside opinion of what was healthy and how they could live during their pregnancy. Pregnancy and childbirth become more of a medicalized life event, opposed to the common passing along of information in families. It was stated that “women’s very citizenship became tied to maternal responsibility while many activists embraced public parenting or mothering.”[5] This article is going to work well with my research paper because I am planning on looking into how pregnancy and the contra indicators, such as alcohol were brought into consideration.
Having doctors more involved in reproduction, there was more research done, and there was more interest in the topic, as health became more and more of a common topic. It also allowed for not only doctor, but mothers to learn more about what was occurring in their bodies and how to have a health pregnancy and a healthy baby, which was becoming an increasingly high demand for society.
Bibliography
Kelm, Mary Ellen, “The Impact of Colonization on Aboriginal Health in British Columbia” in Colonizing Bodies: Aboriginal Health and Healing in British Columbia, 1900-1950, Vancouver: UBC Press, 1998:
Lux, Maureen, “‘Care for the ‘Racially Careless’: Indian Hospitals in the Canadian West, 1920-1950s” Canadian Historical Review, 91, 3 (2010): 407-434.
Mennill, Sally, “Ideal Births and Ideal Babies: English-Canadian Advice Literature in the 1950s and 1960s.” Canadian Bulletin of Medical History. 2014, Vol. 31 Issue 2, p. 25-47.
Mosby, Ian, “Administering Colonial Science: Nutrition Research and Human Biomedical Experimentation in Aboriginal Communities and Residential Schools, 1942-1952” Histoire sociale/Social History, XLVI, No. 91 (Mai/May 2013), 615-642.
[1] Ian Mosby, “Administering Colonial Science: Nutrition Research and Human Biomedical Experimentation in Aboriginal Communities and Residential Schools, 1942-1952” Histoire sociale/Social History, XLVI, No. 91 (Mai/May 2013), 615-642.
[2] Mary Ellen Kelm, “The Impact of Colonization on Aboriginal Health in British Columbia” in Colonizing Bodies: Aboriginal Health and Healing in British Columbia, 1900-1950, Vancouver: UBC Press, 1998: 10.
[3] Maureen Lux, “‘Care for the ‘Racially Careless’: Indian Hospitals in the Canadian West, 1920-1950s” Canadian Historical Review, 91, 3 (2010): 407-434.
[4] Lux, “‘Care for the ‘Racially Careless’”, 433.
[5] Sally Mennill, “Ideal Births and Ideal Babies: English-Canadian Advice Literature in the 1950sand 1960s.” Canadian Bulletin of Medical History. 2014, Vol. 31 Issue 2, p. 34.