A Colonial Lexicon Of Birth Ritual, Medicalization, and Mobility in the Congo

"A highly original study. This book links medical work with maternity work in the context of arguments about gender relations and about feminist perspectives on writing history."- Gillian Heeley-Harnik, author of A Green Estate: Restoring Independence in Madagascar "This richly researched and well-organised historical and anthropological study represents a very impressive addition to Africanist literature, as well as to the growing body of colonialisms. 'A Colonial Lexicon' is bursting with amazing stories." - Judith Farquhar, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill "[Nancy Rose] engages the reader in a compelling, colonial soap opera starring an extraordinary cast of characters, from the knife-wielding, crocodile-slaying doctors, to some formidable African midwives, with glimpses of Tintin in between... Hunt's historical sources are rich and varied ... she has been able to make use of an indigenous paper trail, along with the missionaries' own records and those of the colonial state ... [a] courageous, scholarly, and imaginative book."--Times Literary Supplement, 1 December 2000"