BOOK REVIEW: The Conditions of Cancer Treatment in Postcolonial Uganda - "Africanizing Oncology: Creativity, Crisis, and Cancer in Uganda" By Marissa Mika

Posted on April 11, 2023

Dr Benson Mulemi, research associate in the Reimagining Reproduction project at the Centre for the Advancement of Scholarship, has published a review of Dr Marissa Mika's publication "Africanizing Oncology: Creativity, Crisis, and Cancer in Uganda". 

The review appeared in the The Journal of African History (volume 64, number 1) in early 2023. 

 

In "Africanizing Oncology: Creativity, Crisis, and Cancer in Uganda", Marissa Mika presents a vivid historical exploration of vacillations in the history of social and political (in)visiblity of cancer as a public health concern in East Africa. Mika draws on historical and ethnographic data on the establishment of the Uganda Cancer Institute (UCI) and a cancer unit at Mulago National Referral Hospital to analyze the issues in cancer management in Uganda. The study considers the historical context for the apparently low priority African governments - both colonial and postcolonial - gave cancer across the continent, and describes in detail the creativity of Ugandan cancer specialists who utlized collaborative reseach with the Global North - particularly with the National Cancer Institute in the United States - as a resource for mobilizing and providing care to cancer patients and their families. Mika's main argument is that, by emphasizing taking advantage of local opportunities and Northern resources, Ugandans contribute to the Africanization of oncology from the 1950s through the present. 

 

You can access the journal and the option to purcahse the full review here

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