Social history, Biology, and the emergence of HIV in colonial Africa

This essay considers how historians of Africa can draw from and critically contribute to biomedical debates. Recent virological research has established that the HIV/AIDS pandemic began with the passage of simian immunodeficiency viruses into human populations in the first half of the twentieth century. Current debates on the emergence of HIV are an opportunity for historians to engage with biomedical research to rethink social, political, and environmental histories of Africa. While biomedical writings focus on HIV ‘origins’, we propose a broader look at the historical changes associated with the beginnings of the HIV/AIDS pandemic.