ESHS/HSS Annual Meeting

Martinique in the Time of Yellow Fever: French Colonial Public Health, 1908

• In Event: Public Health in the Americas

English Abstract

When the Sainte-Marthe docked in Fort-de-France, Martinique in 1908, its sailors disembarked in the midst of a small but deadly yellow fever outbreak. One of those French sailors was Charles Rouyer, who contracted a case of yellow fever while at port and passed away before he could return home. He was one of 18 people who died over the course of 6 months. The disease primarily killed those who, like Rouyer, had recently arrived on the island; however, the French government’s response to the outbreak impacted every resident. This paper examines how the French colonial government utilized developments in understandings of disease transmission in order to expand the state’s power to regulate commerce and surveil its citizens. Tracing the spread of the disease from the port to the city and into the highlands, this paper argues that the administration of public health policy in Martinique remained colonial in nature, despite claims that the island had been assimilated into the French Republic and residents were full-fledged citizens. Attention to 20th century public health interventions reveals that, in the face of sporadic disease outbreaks, the French colonial government focused on protecting the commercial interests in Hexagonal France at the expense of the long-term well being of residents on the island, reflecting the persistent colonial nature of France’s relationship to its ancienne colonies during the Third Republic.

Author

• Erin Catherine Budrow, University of California Los Angeles