My research examines how women and children experienced health autonomy in 19th century British Guiana. I analyzed when they sought medical care, who they received medical care from, and how colonial institutions and policies affected healthcare delivery. My project seeks to understand the differences in health autonomy through practices such as Western, spiritual, and herbal medicine. In my future work, I plan to dissect restrictions placed on women and children as they progressed through medical systems in the British colony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I came to this project through learning about the value placed on the Black womb after the end of the transatlantic slave trade. I previously researched women\u2019s health in relation to herbal medicine with a focus on plants with abortive properties, their suppression, and their continual presence in modern medicine today. Through my research, I found that the colony of British Guiana was rarely referenced and women\u2019s autonomy as patients\u2014though seemingly broader in traditional spaces\u2014was not expanded upon. As a 1st-generation Guyanese American, I pursued this research project to expand upon my interest in women\u2019s health as well as connect deeply with the history of the country my family calls home. This research is my \u201cme-search\u201d. It is wholly me\u2014with my interest, passions, culture, and identity blending into one beautiful thesis project come the end of Fall \u201825.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What resonated most with me about this project is the perseverance of traditional herbal medicine today. Everywhere I went and inquired about herbal medicine, I was told stories 2 of grandmothers picking plants from gardens and vendors who sell at the market. It was truly refreshing to see that herbal medicine is thriving in modern-day Guyana, despite its exclusion from archival records. I hope that my project brings light to these gaps in the records while honoring the legacies of herbalists who provided so much to Guyanese people, their names lost to history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although this study focuses on nineteenth-century British Guiana, its themes remain relevant today. The colonial marginalization of women\u2019s healing practices reflects ongoing hierarchies in global health, where Western medicine often dominates and traditional or community-based medicine is undervalued. These patterns continue to shape which forms of knowledge are legitimized and whose expertise is recognized. Similarly, the gendered exclusion of women from colonial medical authority echoes persistent disparities in healthcare leadership and reproductive autonomy. Understanding how the empire restricted women\u2019s medical agency helps illuminate the enduring inequalities within contemporary science, medicine, and global health policy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
My research examines how women and children experienced health autonomy in 19th century British Guiana. I analyzed when they sought medical care, who they received medical care from, and how colonial institutions and policies affected healthcare delivery. My project seeks to understand the differences in health autonomy through practices such as Western, spiritual, and herbal […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":1365,"template":"","profiletype":[87],"class_list":["post-1364","profile","type-profile","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","profiletype-research-fellows"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/krieger.jhu.edu\/msh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile\/1364","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/krieger.jhu.edu\/msh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/krieger.jhu.edu\/msh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/profile"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/krieger.jhu.edu\/msh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile\/1364\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1366,"href":"https:\/\/krieger.jhu.edu\/msh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile\/1364\/revisions\/1366"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krieger.jhu.edu\/msh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/krieger.jhu.edu\/msh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"profiletype","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krieger.jhu.edu\/msh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profiletype?post=1364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}