Physicians, Colonial Racism, and Diaspora in West Africa
Adell Patton
University Press of Florida
Imagine that you are a physician born in British West Africa and cannot practice in your country. Or imagine that you are an African contemplating the study of medicine in Great Britain or an African with the medical degree in hand from a school in the United States. You hear about a British administrative action that will place you on a roster segregating you from your European, middle-class medical peers when you return to your country from Great Britain. Or, in another example from the United States, you learn that your medical training and degree are unacceptable to colonial authorities in your country of origin. This prohibitive policy will prevent you from making a living as a medical practitioner. The year is 1901 and colonialism is in full force; it marks the start of an era of restrictions and reduced opportunities for African medical professionals, a break from the previous century when African and West Indian physicians worked freely to protect the health of Africans and Europeans alike in West Africa.