Epidemics, empire, and environments : cholera in Madras and Quebec City, 1818-1910 / Michael Zeheter.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Zeheter, Michael, author.

Series:

History of the urban environment.

History of the Urban Environment

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Cholera--India--History--19th century.

Cholera.

Cholera--Canada--History--19th century.

Epidemics--India.

Epidemics.

Epidemics--Canada.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (336 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania : University of Pittsburgh Press, 2015.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

"Throughout the nineteenth century, cholera was a global scourge against human populations. Practitioners had little success in mitigating the symptoms of the disease, and its causes were bitterly disputed. What experts did agree on was that the environment played a crucial role in the sites where outbreaks occurred. In this book, Michael Zeheter offers a probing case study of the environmental changes made to fight cholera in two markedly different British colonies: Madras in India and Quebec City in Canada. The colonial state in Quebec aimed to emulate British precedent and develop similar institutions that allowed authorities to prevent cholera by imposing quarantines and controlling the disease through comprehensive change to the urban environment and sanitary improvements. In Madras, however, the provincial government sought to exploit the colony for profit and was reluctant to commit its resources to measures against cholera that would alienate the city's inhabitants. It was only in 1857, after concern rose in Britain over the health of its troops in India, that a civilizing mission of sanitary improvement was begun. As Zeheter shows, complex political and economic factors came to bear on the reshaping of each colony's environment and the urgency placed on disease control"-- Provided by publisher.

"Michael Zeheter offers a probing case study of the environmental changes made to fight cholera in two markedly different British colonies: Madras in India and Quebec City in Canada. He examines the complex political and economic factors that came to bear on the reshaping of each colony's environment and the urgency placed on disease control"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Contents; Acknowledgments; Introduction: Cholera and the Colonial State in Urban Environments; Part I. First Encounters; 1. Strategies of Treatment: Madras, 1818-1833; 2. Strategies of Control: Quebec City, 1832-1834; Part II. Integrating Sanitation; 3. Frequent Visitations: Quebec City, 1840-1854; 4. The Advent of Sanitarianism: Madras, 1840-1857; 5. Sanitary Consensus at Last: Madras, 1858-1883; Part III. Bacteriology and the Promise of Clarity; 6. Finding the Comma Bacillus: Bacteriology in Madras and Quebec City, 1865-1910

Conclusion: The Colonial State and the Elusive Consensus Regarding CholeraNotes; Bibliography; Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780822981046

0822981041

OCLC:

936882050