The history of nursing presents a unique perspective from which to interrogate colonialism and post-colonialism, as nurses were often a key conduit between coloniser and colonised. Many colonising powers used nurses as a means of insinuating their own cultures into the lives of indigenous people, yet despite the valuable insights such an approach reveals, colonial history has never before been approached from this particular direction. This book brings together a collection of essays from an international group of historians who examine the relationship between colonialism, nursing and nurses. Gender, class and race permeate the book, as the complex relationships between nurses, their medical colleagues, governments and the populations they nurse are examined in detail, using case studies which draw on exciting new sources. |