When did Dutch colonies lock up leprosy?
Compulsory segregation was the exception, used where Dutch rule was direct and plantation slavery made racialised workers disposable once they could not labour.
Source
Leprosy and the Colonial Gaze: Comparing the Dutch West and East Indies, 1750-1950
Study at a glance
- Design
- Qualitative / archival — Comparative colonial history of Dutch West and East Indies leprosy segregation, 1750–1950
- N
- Empire-wide comparative history; 1930 Suriname statistic that ~80% diagnosed were Afro-Surinamese is contextual
- Population
- Leprosy policy and segregation under Dutch colonial rule in West and East Indies
- Outcome
- Compulsory segregation as exception tied to plantation labour and racialised disposability
Structured fields used in claim comparison tables when every cited study has a complete layer.
What they did
Building on Foucault’s medical gaze, the authors compare Dutch West and East Indies from 1750–1950. They tie segregation decisions to how labour was organised, then follow later asylums and a 1930 Suriname statistic that most diagnosed people were still Afro-Surinamese.
What they found
Visible isolation was not universal: money, distance, and communication blocked it. Segregation tracked plantation-intensive economies and racial ‘Others’ in slavery or involuntary servitude. The colonial gaze is how planters, officials, and doctors legitimised locking up those no longer useful as labour.
The limits
What it doesn't show
This is a comparative colonial history, not a clinical trial of chaulmoogra or MDT. The 80 per cent figure is for 1930 diagnoses in that setting, not a universal racial law.
Key terms
- Colonial gaze
- Planters’, officials’, and doctors’ look that justified segregating leprosy sufferers who were no longer useful labour.
- Medical gaze
- Foucault’s clinic dynamic between doctor and patient, which the authors paraphrase and extend.
- Compulsory segregation
- Forced isolation of people with leprosy; here, an exception tied to labour systems.
- Plantation colony
- Direct-rule, labour-intensive settings where racialised workers were bound in slavery or servitude.
Flashcards
Research intelligence for this paper
See its role on concept claims, tensions it is part of, placement history, and related discoveries.
Quiz yourself
Compulsory segregation was?
Common questions
Was segregation the normal colonial response?
No. It was often the exception because of cost, distance, and communication.
When did it happen in the Dutch empire?
Direct rule plus plantation-intensive economies with racialised bonded labour.
What is the colonial gaze?
Legitimating isolation of sufferers no longer useful on the plantation.
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