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Stories

  • Article

Epidemic threats and racist legacies

Epidemiology is the systematic, data-driven study of health and disease in populations. But as historian Jacob Steere-Williams suggests, this most scientific of fields emerged in the 19th century imbued with a doctrine of Western imperialism – a legacy that continues to influence how we talk about disease.

  • Article

Thomas Sankara and the stomachs that made themselves heard

Thomas Sankara’s vision to transform farming and health in Burkina Faso turned to dust with his assassination. Perry Blankson highlights the considerable achievements of Sankara’s brief span in power.

  • Article

Natural eating in Jamaica and the Caribbean

Riaz Phillips is passionate about the Jamaican food he grew up with and plant-based Caribbean food he came to later, like roti, baiganee and vegan stews and curries. Here he explores the origins and surging popularity of these natural ‘health foods’.

  • Article

A symbol of a lost homeland

The story of one protective amulet from Palestine reveals a complex tale. Encompassing the personal history of an influential doctor and collector, it provides a window onto dispossession and exile, and the painful repercussions that are still felt today.

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Images

  • Water chlorination apparatus at a reservoir, Africa (?), with kneeling Western man in military dress. Photograph, 1905/1915.
  • Disinfecting station: interior showing equipment and two African (?) men in western dress, Africa (?). Photograph, 1905/1925 (?).
  • Glaucium flavum Crantz Papaveraceae Yellow horned poppy. Distribution: North Africa, Western Asia to Europe. Contains glaucine which is toxic but in small doses may be bronchodilator. As Papaver corniculatum luteum it was known to Parkinson (1640) who reports it as bitter, so advises taking it in honey, as a purgative and analgesic
  • Rattle, West Africa
  • Nail effigies, Congo, West Africa.
  • Bow lute, Begam tribe, Cameroon, West Africa
  • Bow lute, Begam tribe, Cameroon, West Africa
  • Figure representing pregnant woman, Ivory Coast, West Africa.
  • Figure representing pregnant woman, Ivory Coast, West Africa.
  • An Aku Mma doll.y. Ashanti, Ghana, West Africa.
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