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Rats, removals, and redevelopment : plague in Port Elizabeth, 1938
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dc.contributor.author | Skotnes-Brown, Jules | |
dc.contributor.editor | Hüntelmann , Axel C. | |
dc.contributor.editor | Jaser, Christian | |
dc.contributor.editor | Roscher, Mieke | |
dc.contributor.editor | Weber, Nadir | |
dc.date.accessioned | 2023-12-04T12:30:10Z | |
dc.date.available | 2023-12-04T12:30:10Z | |
dc.date.issued | 2023-12-04 | |
dc.identifier | 297033813 | |
dc.identifier | 0072a5ec-4c25-4f48-b57e-cd0d2a43efb8 | |
dc.identifier.citation | Skotnes-Brown , J 2023 , Rats, removals, and redevelopment : plague in Port Elizabeth, 1938 . in A C Hüntelmann , C Jaser , M Roscher & N Weber (eds) , Animals and epidemics : interspecies entanglements in historical perspective . Tiere in der Geschichte - Animals in history , vol. 2 , Bohlau Verlag , Köln , pp. 163-180 , Animals and Epidemics in Historical Perspective , Berlin , Berlin , Germany , 30/03/22 . | en |
dc.identifier.citation | conference | en |
dc.identifier.isbn | 9783412525705 | |
dc.identifier.isbn | 9783412525729 | |
dc.identifier.other | ORCID: /0000-0003-4072-0785/work/148421045 | |
dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/10023/28813 | |
dc.description | Funding: Research leading to this article was funded by the Wellcome Trust (Grant No. ID 217988/Z/ 19/Z) for the project “The Global War Against the Rat and the Epistemic Emergence of Zoonosis”. | en |
dc.description.abstract | This chapter argues that in the context of the 1938 plague outbreak in Port Elizabeth (now Gqeberha), sanitary measures imposed to control the movements of rats were extended to the attempted control of Black and Coloured people living in the suburb of Korsten. In the reports and recommendations of public health officials, numerous houses in Korsten were framed as rat habitats, which allegedly enabled the rodents to breed, nest, and disseminate disease to humans, objects, and other structures in Port Elizabeth. Humans living in this neighbourhood were forcibly removed from their homes, placed under quarantine, and encouraged to move to the model township of New Brighton, a ‘hygienic’, ‘rat-proof ’, segregationists’ utopia. Thus, the process of removing undesirable animals – rats and other rodent residents from Korsten – was also a process of removing Black Africans from the same area. Despite numerous protests from residents and landlords who contested the colonial pathologisation of their homes and properties as rat habitats, 3145 people were evicted. Ultimately, anti-rat measures became segregationist measures, shaping official policy, and also African memories of the removals. | |
dc.format.extent | 18 | |
dc.format.extent | 2729614 | |
dc.language.iso | eng | |
dc.publisher | Bohlau Verlag | |
dc.relation.ispartof | Animals and epidemics | en |
dc.relation.ispartofseries | Tiere in der Geschichte - Animals in history | en |
dc.subject | Rats | en |
dc.subject | Plague | en |
dc.subject | Segregation | en |
dc.subject | South Africa | en |
dc.subject | Forced removals | en |
dc.subject | HT Communities. Classes. Races | en |
dc.subject | RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine | en |
dc.subject | SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being | en |
dc.subject | MCC | en |
dc.subject.lcc | HT | en |
dc.subject.lcc | RA0421 | en |
dc.title | Rats, removals, and redevelopment : plague in Port Elizabeth, 1938 | en |
dc.type | Book item | en |
dc.contributor.sponsor | The Wellcome Trust | en |
dc.contributor.institution | University of St Andrews. Social Anthropology | en |
dc.identifier.url | https://doi.org/10.7788/9783412525729 | en |
dc.identifier.grantnumber | 217988/Z/19/Z | en |
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