ABSTRACT

This article explores how the 1918–1920 influenza pandemic played out in one British colony, Nyasaland (now Malawi). Using a variety of data sources, I illustrate how the disease spread from one area to another through lines of communication and population movement and show how the colonial administrators and local people responded to the influenza pandemic. I further highlight the mortality including the reasons for the large gaps in the burden of disease among the local people, Indians and Europeans. This paper offers an example of how to analyse data on this issue in Africa – to stimulate further efforts to redress the current geographic bias of accounts of the 1918–1920 influenza pandemic and rethink pandemics from the perspective of the Global South.

摘要

本文探讨了 1918 年至 1920 年的流感大流行如何在一个英国殖民地 Nyasaland（现在的马拉维）发生。我使用各种数据源来说明疾病如何通过通讯线路和人口流动从一个地区传播到另一个地区，并展示殖民地管理者和当地人如何应对流感大流行。我进一步强调了死亡率，包括当地人民、印度人和欧洲人之间疾病负担存在巨大差距的原因。本文提供了一个示例，说明如何分析非洲有关此问题的数据——以激励进一步努力纠正当前对 1918-1920 年流感大流行的描述的地理偏见，并从全球南方的角度重新思考大流行。