Parasitic Empires

“Sidiki brilliantly contextualizes the uses of a certain medicalized figure of the 'parasite' within American and British imperial history, while his careful storytelling and eye for the compelling anecdote makes his complex ideas lucid and engaging.”—Pamela Gilbert, author of Victorian Skin: Surface, Self, History

“Sidiki’s work is a fresh interpretation of the intersection of literature and medicine in the early twentieth century and beyond, aiding scholars in rethinking our understanding of the geopolitics of race as they relate to inter-imperial rivalries between the United States and Britain”. —Neel Ahuja, University of Maryland

“ Parasitic Empires is a capacious and provocative cultural history that explores the complex relations among race, politics, and health from the late nineteenth- through the mid-twentieth century and beyond. An exciting addition to the rising field of health humanities, this book offers an astute analysis of how infectious disease laid the discursive foundation for the racial alignment of England and the United States as guardians of both health and whiteness.”—Priscilla Wald, author of Contagious: Cultures, Carriers, and the Outbreak Narrative