Dr. Catherine Burns of the University of Johannesburg will deliver a talk, "Faith, Hope and Science in the Time of AIDS: The Sinikethemba Centre and McCord Zulu Hospital, Durban, South Africa," on October 6 at 10:00 a.m. via Zoom.
This presentation explores how the imperatives of U.S. mission work in an African setting from the late 1800s to the WWII era, and then the development of medical science in South Africa after the 1920s, led to the growth of the McCord Zulu Hospital. At the end of the Apartheid era, U.S. philanthropy re-emerged as a key factor during the HIV/AIDS crisis, and the consequent development of one of the world’s largest HIV treatment centers—the Sinikithemba program.
Reflecting on this 110-year history is deeply relevant for current debates about the role of medicine in society, the history of the U.S.'s complex history of medical philanthropy globally, and the responses and agency of people in Southern Africa to epidemics. Burns will analyze a key idiom used by people at McCord throughout this history: “Sinikithemba,” or hope.
Burns is a leading scholar in medical history and interdisciplinary research, with a particular focus on women, gender, health, and the history of medicine in Southern Africa. She has been instrumental in establishing medical humanities as a field of study in the region and continues to shape its development through research, teaching, and collaboration.
Her recent publications include a history of breastfeeding in Southern Africa, published by UCL Press, and a biography of the Eastern Cape midwife and herbalist Louisa Mvemve, scheduled for publication by Ohio University Press. Her book about Sinikithemba, in collaboration with a HIV doctor, will be out with Jacana Press in South Africa later this year and the University of Virginia Press in the U.S. next year.
The event is organized by Cindy Ermus, director of the Humanities in Medicine Program and Charles and Linda Wilson Professor in the Department of History.
