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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Cattle dip and shark liver oil in a techno-chemical colonial state: the poisoning at Malangali School, Tanganyika, 1934
Author:Johnsen Kelly, Chau
Year:2016
Periodical:The Journal of African History (ISSN 0021-8537)
Volume:57
Issue:3
Pages:437-463
Language:English
Geographic term:Tanzania
Subjects:poisoning
schoolgirls
nutrition
research
colonial policy
External link:https://doi.org/10.1017/S002185371600030X
Abstract:In October 1934, a group of schoolgirls at Malangali School in Iringa Province, Tanganyika received doses of what the school headmistress thought was shark liver oil. Many girls began to spit and vomit the medicine, while others attempted to leave the school grounds to return home. Within three hours, several pupils had died and within three days, another 32 girls succumbed to the toxic draught. This article examines this little known and poorly understood tragedy through the lens of the scientific and social experimentation that occurred at Malangali School. As one of two government- run schools that enrolled girls, Malangali provided the colonial state with an opportunity to conduct a variety of experiments upon a captive audience. This article argues that the 'discovery of colonial malnutrition' in the interwar period not only depoliticized hunger but its emphasis on techno-chemical approaches to social and material problems led to tragedy. Notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract]
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