Soothing Weak Nerves: Tropical Anxieties, Missionary Guidance and Moral Hygiene

Abstract

AbstractThis chapter argues that the contemporary image of the tropics as a site of jeopardy and trial offered an effective framework to preach the Basel Mission’s pious code of conduct to a broader audience. The personal regimen recommended in the medical literature on tropical hygiene around 1900 focussed on asceticism, self-discipline and temperance. These measures were congruent with the proscriptions of Pietist purity, underlining the continued belief in a connection between morality and disease. This puritan dimension of tropical hygiene allowed the Basel medical missionaries to position themselves as experts on the matter and mould scientific and colonial debates with their religious logic. They enjoyed extensive moral authority among the colonial public, not only advising how the sick should be treated but also prescribing healthy diets, behaviours and lifestyles. Although many of the debates surrounding tropical hygiene were carried out in medical journals and other specialised publications, their influence ranged far beyond the disciplinary boundaries of tropical medicine, gaining currency in wider social and political contexts.