What kinds of global connections can we see when we focus on people who lived and worked in places where phosphates, oil, and uranium were extracted? What do we learn about global history in the 20th century when we centre these people?You may only use and MUST reference the source titled, Imperial Medicine: Patrick Manson and the conquest of tropical disease, by Douglas Haynes. Some scholars have approached global history by focusing on important commodities, or goods, and how they’ve travelled around the world. For example, we could trace the path oil takes from the rigs where it is extracted to the gas stations where we pump it into our cars. However, other scholars argue that we shouldn’t focus only on the goods themselves. To understand oil’s role in global history, for example, we also need to focus on the people who extracted it. In the essay, you must answer the following questions: What kinds of global connections can we see when we focus on people who lived and worked in places where phosphates, oil, and uranium were extracted? What do we learn about global history in the 20th century when we centre these people? What do we gain when we prioritize peoples and perspectives that have been left out?
