British Courts Martial in North Africa, 1940-3

This article seeks to demonstrate that the exemplary aspectof military law was applied in courts martial cases in NorthAfrica between 1940 and 1943. It will show that there was aclear desire to make examples, which coincided with the preoccupationsof the High Command concerning the state of discipline and moralewithin the British Eighth Army. The article will reveal thatAuchinleck, Montgomery, and Alexander shared many common ideason discipline and morale, but that their concerns often overstatedthe scale of the supposed problem. These fears created an atmospherein which the details of individual cases were often overriddenin the name of discipline and military efficiency. Paradoxically,such an attitude only added to the High Command’s concerns,for by ensuring a high level of convictions, the outcomes ofcourts martial appeared to confirm the validity of its views.     

Imperial Nightmares: The British Image of 'the deadly climate' of West Africa,c. 1840-74

In the first half of the ninteenth century West Africa became associated with the term 'white man's grave'. This was mostly due to the extremely high European mortality rates resulting from endemic disease, especially malaria. The second half of the nineteenth century is usually described as the birth of tropical medicine, which indicates a development in scientific medicine partially attributed to the empirical experiences of the mid-century. The treatment and prevention of the above-mentioned disease changed substantially in the period. This article discusses the public perception of West Africa in the years between the Niger Expedition in 1841 and the Ashanti campaign in 1874. The two events, which mark the chronological framework of the paper, both played a significant part in the history of malaria as much as in the history of British imperial expansion in the region. Using mostly contemporary printed works, it is argued that despite the development that occurred in the field of medicine and subsequent decline in European mortality, the associated image of 'the deadly climate' of West Africa prevailed between the two events for a variety of political, economic and cultural causes.     

A Witch-Doctor's Kit,from Magila,East Central Africa.

The long shared history and traditions of Spain and Mexico have given rise to similar stereotypes and folkloric figures. These relationships are often explained through myths that take the form of historical accounts. Here we will discuss some of these discourses to try to understand the relationship between two iconic figures that define similar customs and share a single name in Europe and America: El charro.     

Establishing insurance markets in settler economies. a comparison of Australian and South Africa insurance markets, 1820-1910

ABSTRACT

How did insurance markets in the settler economies of Australia and South Africa develop? This paper investigates the establishment of the local insurance industries in two settler economies in the wake of the absence of comparative studies in the emergence of insurance markets in the periphery. The paper compares conditions in these settler economies and notes the innovative role of local entrepreneurs. British insurance companies extended operations into the British colonies, but local interests emerged to challenge their dominance. Innovations in organisational form, product offerings and distribution channels afforded local entrepreneurs a competitive advantage in the life market. Collusion in the fire market restricted innovative practices and retained foreign control. This article explains the agency of local entrepreneurs in the emergence of insurance markets in two settler societies at the end of the nineteenth century. This historical development path has notable implications for the current development of insurance markets in Africa.     

Veterinary immunology as colonial science: method and quantification in the investigation of horsesickness in South Africa, C. 1905-1945

This article examines the practice of veterinary immunology in South Africa during the first half of the twentieth century through an analysis of research into a horsesickness vaccine at the Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute. From the early 1900s, Arnold Theiler prioritized research into horsesickness, by then defined as an insect-borne disease caused by an ultravisible virus. He succeeded in devising a means of prophylaxis using a simultaneous injection of infective blood and immune serum, but he discovered antigenically different strains of the virus, which could overcome the immunity produced by his treatment. The practical value of Theiler's methods was further limited by difficulties in standardizing the biological material used in immunization, the results of which remained too erratic for application on a large scale. No further advances were made until the 1930s, by which time Onderstepoort had been drawn more closely into international scientific networks. Using techniques derived from research into yellow fever in America and canine distemper in Britain, the Onderstepoort scientist Raymond Alexander invented a method of immunization that utilized the propagation of the horsesickness virus in the brains of mice. Alexander's methods, which were characterized by successful technical adaptation and innovation, depended upon methods of quantification first developed by Paul Ehrlich to standardize diphtheria antitoxin during the 1890s. During the 1940s, vaccination expanded rapidly in South Africa, and Onderstepoort later exported the vaccine and associated technology to other countries affected by horsesickness.