51吃瓜

Colonial encroachment in North Africa created new opportunities for women to travel and challenge social norms.

During my travels in Morocco, I discovered Emily Keene鈥檚 memoir,听. In the 1870s, Keene traveled to Tangier as a governess for an English family. Soon after, she married the leader of a prominent religious order. As part of the public duties affiliated with this role, she received followers who came to do homage and seek alleviation of various maladies.

Keene contributed to her husband鈥檚 healing persona in remarkable ways. She used her own pharmacy and medical knowledge to support new mothers, treat infants and inoculate Moroccans against smallpox. The expansion of colonial power in North Africa shaped her medical activities in Morocco.

Colonial Medicine听

In late 19^th century Europe, medicine was transitioning from the study of humors听to the study of pathogens. This eventually led听to the development of vaccines. However, this scientific advancement听developed alongside insidious听sociological theories that justified European 鈥渟uperiority鈥� over indigenous populations.

There was a view that local听medicine should听be reformed under European tutelage. French听doctors criticized certain practices, such as visiting shrines and consulting popular healers. Ironically,听European and Arab regimens for bacterial infections still bore striking resemblances since they were both based on the idea that .

Keene encountered and treated disease in this context of medical progress and stagnation. She relied first and foremost on her own knowledge, maintaining a skeptical attitude toward local medical men. When her child fell ill, she rebuffed the remedies of an听apothecary. She also showed disdain for听a听medical attendant, whom she accused of accelerating听her husband鈥檚听deteriorating health.

Still, her skepticism about local doctors did听not necessitate the view that they were primitive minds, no different from 鈥渟orcerers鈥� or 鈥渇etish-men鈥濃�攖erms听that circulated in the vocabularies of听French sociologists.听While听Keene understood herself as a civilizing agent, she was content to operate as a clinical extension of her husband鈥檚 role as a religious leader and healer.

Women Travelers听

Traveling women strained conventions of femininity in 19^th century England. Keene听went听against the grain of her time by publicizing听her personal life in Morocco. Moreover, she听redefined notions of femininity by injecting her vaccines and medical advice into听Moroccan communities.

Born almost 30 years after听Keene, Isabelle Eberhardt also听听to North Africa in her early 20s. In 1900, she left Geneva for Algeria, where she听disguised herself听as a young man and joined a Sufi brotherhood.^听

Despite听Eberhardt鈥檚听sloughing off of her European identity, she became a close friend of Hubert Lyautey,听a French army general and administrator. Moreover, she听used her faith (she converted to Islam) in order to curry favor with religious leaders and encourage their compliance with colonial rule.

While Eberhardt was transgressive, she was also complicit in the consolidation of colonial rule in North Africa. Likewise, Keene seemed to accept, if not welcome, the inevitably of European rule herself. Nevertheless, these women jettisoned certain attitudes and behaviors that would have prevented them from becoming steeped in local culture. They are subversive because they 鈥渓ost caste,鈥� as Larry Rue noted in an听听about Keene in the听Chicago Tribune听near the end of her life.

Women and听Colonial Encounter

Both Keene and Eberhardt left behind records of their travels. There are several pitfalls to consider while听reading their works. In general, memoir is selective and does not offer the reader a broad historical understanding. Additionally, memoir tends to focus听on the impressions and experiences of one person. As a result, it听conveys a single reality, highly mediated by gender, power and class. These limitations characterize听My Life Story.

For example, the memoir depicts Morocco as a space lacking resistance by听leaving out voices that rejected European rule.听Likewise, it听does not show how Moroccans, and Moroccan women in particular,听challenged cultural assumptions of their own society. Given Keene鈥檚听frequent movements between religious orders, she could have addressed the听phenomenon of itinerant female saints and mystics in North Africa. These omissions leave the reader with misconceptions about local agency.

Despite these shortcomings,听My Life Story听can help us听reimagine colonial encounters and听women鈥檚 position听in the late 19^th century. Keene听engaged in a wide range of activities that did not conform to gender normative behavior for听Victorian women. She traveled听alone and developed听a public persona through political and medical campaigns. Additionally, the memoir unsettles notions of colonial听power. It challenged dominant discourses by depicting the meeting and negotiation of cultures, rather than the imposition of one culture upon another.

The views expressed in this article are the author鈥檚 own and do not necessarily reflect 51吃瓜鈥檚 editorial policy.

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