Thesis Title:
Booming business, booming knowledge: How Indian Anatomy sustained Western Medical Learning (1810-1985)
I completed my bachelor's (2018) and master's degree (2020) in History from Presidency University, Kolkata. Currently, I am a doctoral student at OCHSMT, University of Oxford, and am funded by the Wellcome Trust. Though my primary field of interest is art history, my interests shifted during the master's program to the history of medicine and its situation within the wider socio-cultural ambit.
Research Topic:
My dissertation argues that many advances in the field of anatomy (teaching and research) were enabled by the extensive procurement of anatomical and pathological specimens (bodies, skeletons and ‘wet’ pathological specimens) from South Asia, predominantly India. This occurred through processes of institutional acquisition and trade nexus, beginning in the colonial period, c.1810, and ending in the latter half of the twentieth century, although the utilisation of collected specimens continues as part of medical teaching. It is a blend of both anthropological and historical methodologies, to render the procurement of specimens visible across the vast time frame. I focus on the mechanics of specimens acquisition, and how they have benefitted western medical sciences.
I look at two methods of procurement, first the osteological trade, a lucrative enterprise primarily carried out by the skeleton merchants which provided medical aids for learning anatomy in anatomical teaching labs, and second, the institutional acquisition of anomalous/diseased specimens by the Indian Medical Service (IMS) officials which informed the clinical observations of the numerous endemic afflictions alongside retrospective diagnoses and patient observations in British India in specific demographic sets (native inhabitants and colonial settlers).
Supervisor: Professor Mark Harrison
