The Social Dimensions of Christian Leprosy Work among Muslims: American Missionaries and Young Patients in Colonial Northern Nigeria, 1920-40

Here the role of mission medicine in the British campaign to control leprosy is considered. The case of the emirates of colonial Northern Nigeria draws attention to the social relations of medical work, not only between European and African, Christian and Muslim, but also within colonial circles and indigenous communities. The campaign exposed the different interests of administrators and missionaries, who were North American and somewhat removed from colonial government. For their part, patients were largely migratory young men. This chapter argues that although local social dynamics were often misread in mission sources, they influenced the direction that medical care took in this region of Africa.