01510nas a2200193 4500000000100000008004100001653001200042653002300054653001600077653003800093653001900131100001800150245013900168856007500307300001200382490000700394520090100401022001401302 2012 d10aleprosy10aHistory of leprosy10aFundraising10aBritish Empire Relief Association10aBritish Empire1 aVongsathorn K00aGnawing Pains, Festering Ulcers, and Nightmare Suffering: Selling Leprosy as a Humanitarian Cause in the British Empire, c. 1890-1960. uhttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4055987/pdf/emss-58612.pdf a863-8780 v403 a
When British attention was drawn to the issue of leprosy in the Empire, humanitarian organisations rose to take on responsibility for the 'fight against leprosy'. In an effort to fundraise for a distant cause at a time when hundreds of charities competed for the financial support of British citizens, fundraisers developed propaganda to set leprosy apart from all other humanitarian causes. They drew on leprosy's relationship with Christianity, its debilitating symptoms, and the supposed vulnerability of leprosy sufferers in order to mobilise Britain's sense of humanitarian, Christian, and patriotic duty. This article traces the emergence of leprosy as a popular imperial humanitarian cause in modern Britain and analyses the narratives of religion, suffering, and disease that they created and employed in order to fuel their growth and sell leprosy as a British humanitarian cause.
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