Jennifer Tappan

This project examines the treatment and prevention of severe acute malnutrition in Uganda over nearly a century. It investigates how African engagement with nutrition science influenced shifting medical practice. Oral and archival sources illuminate the intersection between science and society from inter-war controversies over causation, through post-war expansion of development aid, to contemporary initiatives that continue in the shadow of adversity. Unintended and tragic health outcomes are explored as factors precipitating the development of a sustainable prevention program centered on empowering African women. Contrasting this approach with colonial efforts to reform motherhood enriches the history of women and gender in Africa and the history and anthropology of science and medicine.