In 1907, colonial officials in Lesotho first reported the nutritional deficiency disease pellagra. After drought in 1933, cases increased. The number rose through the 1940s, continuing upwards to 1963 before declining. Colonial research and policies in these decades failed to mitigate pellagra and malnutrition, but Basotho underwent profound changes in how they understood nutrition and how they acted to improve it. It is argued that these are two parts of a single story. One is a tale of colonial injustice, scientific hubris and failed policy that cultivated pellagra. The other is a narrative of people trying to uncultivate pellagra by engaging with old and new knowledge and technology to struggle against economic, ecological and political challenges. To reconstruct this two-part story, this article examines how this epidemic occurred, how knowledge about pellagra was produced and used in policy and how those policies contributed to changes in local practices. Furthermore, this work emphasises how agricultural and nutritional policies, even when informed by scientific research, ultimately fail if they do not address the political and economic injustices that leave people poor and vulnerable to disease.

中文翻译：

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（联合国）培育玉米疾病：皮拉格拉，莱索托的政策和营养实践，1933-1963年

1907年，莱索托的殖民地官员首次报道了营养不良疾病糙皮病。1933年干旱后，病例增加。这个数字在1940年代一直上升，一直持续到1963年才下降。在过去的几十年中，殖民地研究和政策未能减轻糙皮病和营养不良，但巴索陀在理解营养以及改善营养的方式上发生了深刻的变化。有人认为这是一个单一故事的两个部分。其中一个故事是殖民地不公正，科学傲慢和失败的政策，这些故事造就了糙皮病。另一则叙述是人们试图通过与新旧知识和技术互动来对抗经济，生态和政治挑战，从而使无用的糙皮病变得更糟。为了重构这个由两部分组成的故事，本文考察了这种流行病是如何发生的，政策中如何产生和使用有关糙皮病的知识，以及这些政策如何促进当地做法的变化。此外，这项工作着重指出，即使在没有科学研究的情况下，农业和营养政策如果未能解决导致人们贫穷和易患疾病的政治和经济不公，最终也会失败。