Science and Society in Southern Africa (review)

Saul Dubow, ed. Science and Society in Southern Africa.Studies in Imperialism. Manchester, U.K.: Manchester University Press, 2000. x + 241 pp. $74.95 (0-7190-5812-0).

Over the past decade a number of studies have begun to explore the workings of Western science within the context of European colonial rule. Many of these studies have looked at the development of colonial medical ideas and practices; a smaller number have sought to explore the role of other branches of the biological and physical sciences within colonial settings. Most of those writing on the history of colonial science, however, have been trained as area specialists, or as historians of imperialism. Accordingly, much of what has been written has attempted to use the study of science and medicine to illuminate the historical contours of colonial society.

The essays that make up Science and Society in Southern Africa follow in this tradition, exploring the role of science, medicine, and technology in shaping the colonial experience in Southern Africa. Several of the essays—including Keith Shear's fascinating chapter on the use of police dogs to identify African criminals, Dawn Nell's study of the application of scientific principles to cattle raising, and Deborah Posel's important discussion of the Nationalist government's obsession with measurement—examine how the South African state attempted to apply the language and principles of Western scientific discourse to various spheres of colonial development and control. As Saul Dubow notes in his introduction to the volume and in his chapter on the British Association in South Africa, this effort to "scientize" colonial development was driven by a desire to establish South Africa as "modern." Yet, it was also a means for legitimizing colonial power in the name of scientific advancement. Finally, it reflected the faith of colonial administrators in the ability of science to transform Africa, a theme that emerges in a number of the papers in this volume.

Only two of the essays deal with the history of medicine and public health. Shula Marks examines the history of South Africa's innovative experiment with social medicine during the 1940s and 1950s, and its architects. The experiment was influenced by the wider development of social medicine in Europe. However, it translated these ideas into a novel system of primary health-care clinics that provided both curative and preventive services and took cognizance of the underlying social and economic determinants of ill health. The South Africa experiment provided a model for the development of primary health-care systems in other parts of the world. It unfortunately failed to take hold in South Africa, however, due to the coming to power of the Nationalist government. This led to the emigration of the experiment's most active proponents and the reascendancy of a more conservative model of health care.

Susanne Klausen's chapter on the South African Race and Welfare Society addresses the faith of colonizers in the transformative power of science. Beginning with a concern over high birth rates among poor whites and fears about racial degeneration, the leaders of the Race and Welfare Society, which included some of the most prominent scientists in the country, pushed for programs designed to limit the fertility of poor whites through the establishment of birth control clinics during the 1930s. This exercise in eugenics was aimed at strengthening white society. Over time, however, the Society extended its reach to other racial groups, building additional clinics to provide birth control services to Africans, Coloreds, and Asians. Birth control became an instrument for transforming and improving society, rather than a way to either limit population growth or improve maternal health.

Interestingly, none of the contributors to this volume was trained in the history of science, medicine, or technology. This reflects, in part, the fact that few in this field focus their work on colonial settings. Consequently, there have been few attempts to explore the impact of colonial research on the development...