For All of Humanity

Mesoamerican and Colonial Medicine in Enlightenment Guatemala

Nonfiction, History, Americas, Central America
Cover of the book For All of Humanity by Martha Few, University of Arizona Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Martha Few ISBN: 9780816532278
Publisher: University of Arizona Press Publication: October 22, 2015
Imprint: University of Arizona Press Language: English
Author: Martha Few
ISBN: 9780816532278
Publisher: University of Arizona Press
Publication: October 22, 2015
Imprint: University of Arizona Press
Language: English

Smallpox, measles, and typhus. The scourges of lethal disease—as threatening in colonial Mesoamerica as in other parts of the world—called for widespread efforts and enlightened attitudes to battle the centuries-old killers of children and adults. Even before edicts from Spain crossed the Atlantic, colonial elites oftentimes embraced medical experimentation and reform in the name of the public good, believing it was their moral responsibility to apply medical innovations to cure and prevent disease. Their efforts included the first inoculations and vaccinations against smallpox, new strategies to protect families and communities from typhus and measles, and medical interventions into pregnancy and childbirth.

For All of Humanity examines the first public health campaigns in Guatemala, southern Mexico, and Central America in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Martha Few pays close attention to Indigenous Mesoamerican medical cultures, which not only influenced the shape and scope of those regional campaigns but also affected the broader New World medical cultures. The author reconstructs a rich and complex picture of the ways colonial doctors, surgeons, Indigenous healers, midwives, priests, government officials, and ordinary people engaged in efforts to prevent and control epidemic disease.

Few’s analysis weaves medical history and ethnohistory with social, cultural, and intellectual history. She uses prescriptive texts, medical correspondence, and legal documents to provide rich ethnographic descriptions of Mesoamerican medical cultures, their practitioners, and regional pharmacopeia that came into contact with colonial medicine, at times violently, during public health campaigns.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Smallpox, measles, and typhus. The scourges of lethal disease—as threatening in colonial Mesoamerica as in other parts of the world—called for widespread efforts and enlightened attitudes to battle the centuries-old killers of children and adults. Even before edicts from Spain crossed the Atlantic, colonial elites oftentimes embraced medical experimentation and reform in the name of the public good, believing it was their moral responsibility to apply medical innovations to cure and prevent disease. Their efforts included the first inoculations and vaccinations against smallpox, new strategies to protect families and communities from typhus and measles, and medical interventions into pregnancy and childbirth.

For All of Humanity examines the first public health campaigns in Guatemala, southern Mexico, and Central America in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Martha Few pays close attention to Indigenous Mesoamerican medical cultures, which not only influenced the shape and scope of those regional campaigns but also affected the broader New World medical cultures. The author reconstructs a rich and complex picture of the ways colonial doctors, surgeons, Indigenous healers, midwives, priests, government officials, and ordinary people engaged in efforts to prevent and control epidemic disease.

Few’s analysis weaves medical history and ethnohistory with social, cultural, and intellectual history. She uses prescriptive texts, medical correspondence, and legal documents to provide rich ethnographic descriptions of Mesoamerican medical cultures, their practitioners, and regional pharmacopeia that came into contact with colonial medicine, at times violently, during public health campaigns.

More books from University of Arizona Press

Cover of the book The Winged by Martha Few
Cover of the book Beyond Chaco by Martha Few
Cover of the book Understanding the Arizona Constitution by Martha Few
Cover of the book Weaving the Boundary by Martha Few
Cover of the book Object and Apparition by Martha Few
Cover of the book Native Apparitions by Martha Few
Cover of the book Celluloid Pueblo by Martha Few
Cover of the book The Northeast by Martha Few
Cover of the book Doing Good by Martha Few
Cover of the book Cooperatives, Grassroots Development, and Social Change by Martha Few
Cover of the book A Tohono O'odham Grammar by Martha Few
Cover of the book Howling for Justice by Martha Few
Cover of the book Sustaining Wildlands by Martha Few
Cover of the book Shameful Victory by Martha Few
Cover of the book Between Two Fires by Martha Few
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy