It is not only the guilty who suffer : exploring gender, power and moral politics through the contagious diseases acts in the Cape Colony, c1868-1885

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study deals with the build-up to, and resultant reactions against, regulating sexualpractices in the Cape Colony, especially the Contagious Diseases Acts in 1868 and 1885. Thefocus will be on the existence of venereal disease as a colonial epidemic. The wider contextin terms of Britain, India, Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia will also be taken intoaccount. The research is based on a theoretical framework made up of three components;gender, power and moral politics. The role of gender will be looked at through the existenceof the double standard and the prostitute. Power and the existing relations between thecolonies and the colonisers will be looked at by addressing the issue of race, superiority andthe exportation of the colonial mindset. Moral politics will be analysed through the discussionof purity campaigns, women's role in society and the medical aspect of politics. Within thisthematic framework, the focus of the study will then move to the Cape Colony and theexistence of regularity practices there. This study seeks to establish the ways in whichregulation developed at the Cape and in doing so hopes to contribute to the existing historiography.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University