Tropical Neurasthenia
What does the condition of tropical neurasthenia tell us about history of disease and colonialism?
Executive Summary
The Western countries have established the world market during the first quarter of the twentieth century. At that time, the Europeans in the tropical colonies experienced a kind of nervous condition which was diagnosed as the tropical neurasthenia. It s not a psychosis or madness but according to Anna Crozier(2009), an ennui or loss of “edge” caused by the strains of tropical life, the hot climate the Westerners totally unfamiliar with. This essays generally introduces the description of tropical neurasthenia, such as the definition of tropical neurasthenia (how does it different from normal neurasthenia) and why the Westerners, or to say, civilized people have anxieties about climate. Finally, it draws a conclusion about what does the condition of tropical neurasthenia tell us about history of disease and colonialism.
2.0 Introduction
2.1 What is tropical neurasthenia To the author's knowledge, the tropical neurasthenia is a wide-range symptoms. During the first quarter of the twentieth century, the Europeans expanded their colonies around the world, and their Colonial Service employees experienced a kind of nervous condition called tropical neurasthenia. This irresistible nervousness is of a general physical debility physiological degeneration and even mental or moral deterioration might occur, which were caused directly by the tropical environment. Many people explained it as an expression of the anxieties of the colonial regime. Virtually, it can be regarded as a hybrid form, dependent not only upon the peculiarities of the colonial situation, but also descended from British and American clinical understandings of neurasthenia. Tropical neurasthenia placed greater emphasis on the sun as a causative factor and further delineated the racial hierarchies presumed by colonialism, but neither these environmental or racial components were
Executive Summary
The Western countries have established the world market during the first quarter of the twentieth century. At that time, the Europeans in the tropical colonies experienced a kind of nervous condition which was diagnosed as the tropical neurasthenia. It s not a psychosis or madness but according to Anna Crozier(2009), an ennui or loss of “edge” caused by the strains of tropical life, the hot climate the Westerners totally unfamiliar with. This essays generally introduces the description of tropical neurasthenia, such as the definition of tropical neurasthenia (how does it different from normal neurasthenia) and why the Westerners, or to say, civilized people have anxieties about climate. Finally, it draws a conclusion about what does the condition of tropical neurasthenia tell us about history of disease and colonialism.
2.0 Introduction
2.1 What is tropical neurasthenia To the author's knowledge, the tropical neurasthenia is a wide-range symptoms. During the first quarter of the twentieth century, the Europeans expanded their colonies around the world, and their Colonial Service employees experienced a kind of nervous condition called tropical neurasthenia. This irresistible nervousness is of a general physical debility physiological degeneration and even mental or moral deterioration might occur, which were caused directly by the tropical environment. Many people explained it as an expression of the anxieties of the colonial regime. Virtually, it can be regarded as a hybrid form, dependent not only upon the peculiarities of the colonial situation, but also descended from British and American clinical understandings of neurasthenia. Tropical neurasthenia placed greater emphasis on the sun as a causative factor and further delineated the racial hierarchies presumed by colonialism, but neither these environmental or racial components were