Akosua Paries-Osei (Royal Holloway, University of London), "Seditious Seed of Forbidden Flowers: The legacy of Okra in the Reproductive Resistance of Enslaved women"
The utilisation of African medicinal knowledge during slavery has historically been overlooked and often dismissed, but contemporaneously, it disrupted the business of slavery and the authority of Western doctors and slave owners. This was particularly pertinent regarding African women's knowledge of herbal abortifacients and contraceptives. This paper examines the use of African botanical abortifacients and contraceptives by enslaved women as sites of reproductive resistance in Jamaica.
Botanical knowledge of abortifacients and contraceptives was transferred from Africa to the Americas and the Caribbean with the enslaved. Slavery rendered the enslaved female's body the legal possession of her owner; her womb and her reproductive capacity became a site of contestation and control. The ability to bear children was, for her owner, the ability to reproduce wealth in the form of human stock. The ability to control her fertility, for the enslaved woman, was often an act of political defiance, in the face of overwhelming violence and coercion.
This paper highlights the use African plants enslaved women used in African and Jamaica Abelmoschus esculentus. L, to manage and control their fertility. The abortifacient and contraceptive qualities of Okra was utilised during slavery and beyond. It has been incorporated into modern Western contraceptive treatments; the enduring legacy of enslaved women’s reproductive resistance and knowledge has continued to shape and control women’s fertility, now as it did then.
Historians of science have been increasingly interested in unacknowledged contributions tonatural history, as well as other forms of scientific enquiry. These trends have included a focus on women’s work and the work of assistants and on “go-betweens” or cultural brokers, including in colonial settings. There has also been a wave of interest among scholars in using natural historical sources like pressed plants in herbaria to reconstruct past environments. At the same time, institutions holding natural history collections made during the colonial period have begun to explore new approaches to their collections. These include repatriation and digitization, renaming images and artefacts after their creators rather than their collectors, incorporating Indigenous or local names in catalogs, inviting communities from the origin places of collections to visit and add their insights to collections and displays and collaborating with contemporary artists and scholars to respond to their collections. This working group promotes the sharing and dissemination of research projects or initiatives undertaken within universities, museums
or libraries, to other institutions that hold natural history collections and with the wider scholarly and community. The focus is on the period 1750-1850, an age in which revolution, industrialization and global empires brought radical changes in human interaction with the natural world. The working group will discuss how to share ideas with other institutions interested in reconceptualizing their collections and scholars working with these collections. It grows out of a SSHRC-funded project based at McGill University entitled “Hidden hands in Colonial Natural Histories” (2022-2025) and aims to expand this project to include scholars around the world working on similar topics. The group includes scholars at a range of career stages and from different disciplinary backgrounds.
Consortium Respectful Behavior Policy
Participants at Consortium activities will treat each other with respect and consideration to create a collegial, inclusive, and professional environment that is free from any form of discrimination, harassment, or retaliation.
Participants will avoid any inappropriate actions or statements based on individual characteristics such as age, race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, marital status, nationality, political affiliation, ability status, educational background, or any other characteristic protected by law. Disruptive or harassing behavior of any kind will not be tolerated. Harassment includes but is not limited to inappropriate or intimidating behavior and language, unwelcome jokes or comments, unwanted touching or attention, offensive images, photography without permission, and stalking.
Participants may send reports or concerns about violations of this policy to conduct@chstm.org.
Upcoming Meetings
Wednesday, March 26, 2025, 10:00 - 11:30 am EDT
Wednesday, March 26, 2025, 10:00 - 11:30 am EDT
Akosua Paries-Osei (Royal Holloway, University of London), "Seditious Seed of Forbidden Flowers: The legacy of Okra in the Reproductive Resistance of Enslaved women"
The utilisation of African medicinal knowledge during slavery has historically been overlooked and often dismissed, but contemporaneously, it disrupted the business of slavery and the authority of Western doctors and slave owners. This was particularly pertinent regarding African women's knowledge of herbal abortifacients and contraceptives. This paper examines the use of African botanical abortifacients and contraceptives by enslaved women as sites of reproductive resistance in Jamaica.
Botanical knowledge of abortifacients and contraceptives was transferred from Africa to the Americas and the Caribbean with the enslaved. Slavery rendered the enslaved female's body the legal possession of her owner; her womb and her reproductive capacity became a site of contestation and control. The ability to bear children was, for her owner, the ability to reproduce wealth in the form of human stock. The ability to control her fertility, for the enslaved woman, was often an act of political defiance, in the face of overwhelming violence and coercion.
This paper highlights the use African plants enslaved women used in African and Jamaica Abelmoschus esculentus. L, to manage and control their fertility. The abortifacient and contraceptive qualities of Okra was utilised during slavery and beyond. It has been incorporated into modern Western contraceptive treatments; the enduring legacy of enslaved women’s reproductive resistance and knowledge has continued to shape and control women’s fertility, now as it did then.
Wednesday, March 26, 2025, 10:00 - 11:30 am EDT
Akosua Paries-Osei (Royal Holloway, University of London), "Seditious Seed of Forbidden Flowers: The legacy of Okra in the Reproductive Resistance of Enslaved women"
The utilisation of African medicinal knowledge during slavery has historically been overlooked and often dismissed, but contemporaneously, it disrupted the business of slavery and the authority of Western doctors and slave owners. This was particularly pertinent regarding African women's knowledge of herbal abortifacients and contraceptives. This paper examines the use of African botanical abortifacients and contraceptives by enslaved women as sites of reproductive resistance in Jamaica.
Botanical knowledge of abortifacients and contraceptives was transferred from Africa to the Americas and the Caribbean with the enslaved. Slavery rendered the enslaved female's body the legal possession of her owner; her womb and her reproductive capacity became a site of contestation and control. The ability to bear children was, for her owner, the ability to reproduce wealth in the form of human stock. The ability to control her fertility, for the enslaved woman, was often an act of political defiance, in the face of overwhelming violence and coercion.
This paper highlights the use African plants enslaved women used in African and Jamaica Abelmoschus esculentus. L, to manage and control their fertility. The abortifacient and contraceptive qualities of Okra was utilised during slavery and beyond. It has been incorporated into modern Western contraceptive treatments; the enduring legacy of enslaved women’s reproductive resistance and knowledge has continued to shape and control women’s fertility, now as it did then.
Wednesday, March 26, 2025, 10:00 - 11:30 am EDT
Akosua Paries-Osei (Royal Holloway, University of London), "Seditious Seed of Forbidden Flowers: The legacy of Okra in the Reproductive Resistance of Enslaved women"
The utilisation of African medicinal knowledge during slavery has historically been overlooked and often dismissed, but contemporaneously, it disrupted the business of slavery and the authority of Western doctors and slave owners. This was particularly pertinent regarding African women's knowledge of herbal abortifacients and contraceptives. This paper examines the use of African botanical abortifacients and contraceptives by enslaved women as sites of reproductive resistance in Jamaica.
Botanical knowledge of abortifacients and contraceptives was transferred from Africa to the Americas and the Caribbean with the enslaved. Slavery rendered the enslaved female's body the legal possession of her owner; her womb and her reproductive capacity became a site of contestation and control. The ability to bear children was, for her owner, the ability to reproduce wealth in the form of human stock. The ability to control her fertility, for the enslaved woman, was often an act of political defiance, in the face of overwhelming violence and coercion.
This paper highlights the use African plants enslaved women used in African and Jamaica Abelmoschus esculentus. L, to manage and control their fertility. The abortifacient and contraceptive qualities of Okra was utilised during slavery and beyond. It has been incorporated into modern Western contraceptive treatments; the enduring legacy of enslaved women’s reproductive resistance and knowledge has continued to shape and control women’s fertility, now as it did then.
Wednesday, April 23, 2025, 10:00 - 11:30 am EDT
Jovita Yesilyurt (Natural History Museum London) and Christina Welch (University of Winchester) "Unearthing the contribution of Indigenous and enslaved African knowledge systems to the Saint Vincent Botanical Garden under Dr Anderson (1785-1811)"
Wednesday, April 23, 2025, 10:00 - 11:30 am EDT
Jovita Yesilyurt (Natural History Museum London) and Christina Welch (University of Winchester) "Unearthing the contribution of Indigenous and enslaved African knowledge systems to the Saint Vincent Botanical Garden under Dr Anderson (1785-1811)"
Wednesday, April 23, 2025, 10:00 - 11:30 am EDT
Jovita Yesilyurt (Natural History Museum London) and Christina Welch (University of Winchester) "Unearthing the contribution of Indigenous and enslaved African knowledge systems to the Saint Vincent Botanical Garden under Dr Anderson (1785-1811)"
Wednesday, April 23, 2025, 10:00 - 11:30 am EDT
Jovita Yesilyurt (Natural History Museum London) and Christina Welch (University of Winchester) "Unearthing the contribution of Indigenous and enslaved African knowledge systems to the Saint Vincent Botanical Garden under Dr Anderson (1785-1811)"
Wednesday, May 28, 2025, 10:00 - 11:30 am EDT
Catarina Madruga (Museum für Naturkunde Berlin), Archival collections and specimens from German “Kamerun" in the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin
Wednesday, May 28, 2025, 10:00 - 11:30 am EDT
Catarina Madruga (Museum für Naturkunde Berlin), Archival collections and specimens from German “Kamerun" in the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin
Wednesday, May 28, 2025, 10:00 - 11:30 am EDT
Catarina Madruga (Museum für Naturkunde Berlin), Archival collections and specimens from German “Kamerun" in the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin
Wednesday, May 28, 2025, 10:00 - 11:30 am EDT
Catarina Madruga (Museum für Naturkunde Berlin), Archival collections and specimens from German “Kamerun" in the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin
Group Conveners
Victoria Dickenson
Victoria Dickenson PhD FCMA FLS is Professor of Practice, Rare Books and Special Collections, McGill Library. She has a PhD in the history of science (Carleton 1995) and has published extensively in the history of natural history. A former museum curator and director, she also writes in the areas of museum studies and material culture. Since 2017, Dickenson has been Principal Investigator on three research projects funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and based on materials held at the Blacker Wood Natural History Collection, founded by Casey Wood.
Ranee Om Prakash
Anna Winterbottom
Anna Winterbottom works on the history of medicine, science, and environment with a focus on the early modern Indian Ocean region and the European colonial presence there. She is the author of Hybrid Knowledge in the Early East India Company World (2016) and co-editor of Histories of Medicine in the Indian Ocean World (2015), The East India Company and the Natural World (2014), and Women, Environment and Networks of Empire (2023). Anna is a Research Associate at McGill University, where she is currently working on the collaborative project "Hidden hands in colonial natural histories."