Data, Race and Empire: African Health, Scottish Missions and the Information Strategies of Dr Archibald Hewan (1832-1883)

Last updated: 18 November 2025

About the research

Historical research is currently unveiling the communication strategies of actors who did not qualify for the typical hegemonic norm of white male expertise within the formation of modern science. In nineteenth-century Britain, when the ideology of the coloniser constructed racial hierarchies as scientific knowledge, the work of Black physicians often diverged and was even oppositional. 

This doctoral project aims to explore the scientific agency of one such physician: Dr Archibald Hewan (1832-1883). As a Jamaican medical missionary of the Free Church of Scotland in Old Calabar (now Calabar, Nigeria), his life and work offer insights into the convergences of science, belief and non-normative expertise. His collection of artefacts and data, which were sent from West Africa to Scotland, makes him a key co-creator of transatlantic networks of science. By analysing his collecting practices and the use (or non-use) of such ‘objects of knowledge’ at the National Museum of Scotland, we can unravel his role and reaction to the epistemological contexts of imperialism and pseudo-scientific racism. 

Header image: Wooden fan decorated with nsibidi graphic symbols: West Africa, Nigeria, South Eastern State, Calabar, Efik or Ibibio people, 1850s. Museum reference: A.400.30.