Abstract Summary
This paper focuses on integrating African vernacular knowledge about malaria more fully into the history of science, the history of malaria elimination attempts, the history of global health interventions and current elimination activities. In order to do so, it focuses on the the Indian Ocean island of Zanzibar. Since the early 1900s, Zanzibar has served as a natural laboratory for malaria control measures by a host of international agencies and it remains at the center of global malaria elimination efforts led by the Gates Foundation. Current descriptions of malaria on Zanzibar describe the disease as “nearly eliminated” and it is frequently invoked as an example of malaria conquered in tropical Africa. Yet “nearly” eliminating malaria is the same as never eliminating malaria, and the disease remains entrenched. Preliminary data from interviews and ethnographic observation in Zanzibar indicates that vernacular knowledge challenges many biomedical epistemic frameworks. Particular focus is placed on Zanzibari understandings of: how malaria is an “environmental” disease; what it means to “eliminate” a disease; whether acquired immunity exists; and the risks and realities of rebound malaria. This inter-disciplinary project utilizes a variety of historical and anthropological sources and builds upon on works on African vernacular knowledge by Mavungha (2018) and Tilley (2011). This paper is part of a larger book project with the goal of better integrating sub-Saharan Africa into our understanding of the history of malaria globally.
