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Women and the Rise of Nutrition Science in Interwar Britain and British Africa

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  • © 2023

Overview

Authors:
  1. Lacey Sparks

    1. University of Southern Maine, Portland, USA

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  • Combines histories of empire, food, Britain, and Africa, situated within the broad context of 20th-century empire
  • Seeks to centre both white and Black women’s historical voices and experiences
  • Unites nutrition science in both Britain and Africa under a single analytic lens of economics, gender, and empire

Part of the book series: Britain and the World (BAW)

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Table of contents (8 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-viii
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  2. Setting the Table: Debates on the New Science of Nutrition

    • Lacey Sparks
    Pages 1-20

  3. Gathering Ingredients: Collecting Data on Nutrition in Britain and British Africa

    • Lacey Sparks
    Pages 21-53

  4. Picky Eaters: Policymakers Turn to Education to Solve Malnutrition

    • Lacey Sparks
    Pages 55-84

  5. Not Your Grandmother’s Cooking: Domestic Science in Britain and British Africa

    • Lacey Sparks
    Pages 85-104

  6. Fusion Cooking: Nutrition Education in Britain and British Africa

    • Lacey Sparks
    Pages 105-120

  7. Experimenting with the Recipe: Nutrition Education Pedagogies

    • Lacey Sparks
    Pages 121-150

  8. A Seat at the Table: Nigerian Women Shape the Curriculum

    • Lacey Sparks
    Pages 151-176

  9. The Proof is in the Pudding: Indigenous Farming Points the Way Forward

    • Lacey Sparks
    Pages 177-188

  10. Back Matter

    Pages 189-206
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Keywords

About this book

In the wake of the Great Depression, economic recovery and nutritional improvement in Britain simultaneously occurred with their decline in British Africa. While histories of science, medicine and British Empire have provided fertile analytical ground for decades, the field of nutrition science has received comparatively little attention. Widespread malnutrition between the World Wars called into question the role of the British state in preserving the welfare of both its citizens and its subjects, especially women, given their role in feeding their families. International organizations such as the League of Nations, empire- wide projects such as nutrition surveys conducted by the Committee for Nutrition in the Colonial Empire (CNCE), sub-imperial networks of medical and teaching professionals, and individuals on-the-spot wove a dense web of ideas on nutrition. Women, especially of the working class, bore the brunt of the struggle to access nutritious food as a wave of interest in thenew science of nutrition swept the globe between the wars, with imperial Britain in the lead. The British state buoyed the economic slump of the Great Depression in the metropole by importing more colonial goods more cheaply, feeding metropolitan Brits on the back of the colonial empire, particularly in Africa. This book stands apart for the way it places nutrition science in both Britain and Africa under a single analytic lens of economics, gender and empire, contributing to research on British and African history, British Empire, women’s history and the history of science, medicine and health.


Authors and Affiliations

  • University of Southern Maine, Portland, USA

    Lacey Sparks

About the author

Lacey Sparks is an Assistant Professor of Modern European History at the University of Southern Maine, in the USA. Her research focuses on Britain and the empire, gender, and the cultural history of food, science, and medicine. She is particularly interested in the multiple and multidirectional exchanges— political, economic, and cultural—that comprised and subverted the Empire. She also teaches World History, History of the British Empire, Women’s History, and History of Africa.

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Women and the Rise of Nutrition Science in Interwar Britain and British Africa

  • Authors: Lacey Sparks

  • Series Title: Britain and the World

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-23521-4

  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham

  • eBook Packages: History, History (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-031-23520-7Published: 21 March 2023

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-031-23523-8Published: 22 March 2024

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-031-23521-4Published: 20 March 2023

  • Series ISSN: 2947-7182

  • Series E-ISSN: 2947-7190

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: VIII, 206

  • Number of Illustrations: 1 b/w illustrations

  • Topics: History of Britain and Ireland, Imperialism and Colonialism, History, general, History of Science, African History, Social Sciences, general

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