How Racism and "Tropical Medicine" Built the Panama Canal.

Abstract

At the turn of the 20th century, the physician William Gorgas led work that substantially mitigated mortality from mosquito-borne diseases among workers building the Panama Canal. The waterway launched the United States to political and economic superpower status by eliminating the need for risky maritime travel around the southern tip of South America, expediting exportation of US goods in international markets. Yet, as this article explains, innovations that curbed malaria and yellow fever were deeply rooted in racist foundations of capital and empire.