We are incredibly happy to announce that IOWC Research Assistant, Lilia Scudamore, and Project Manager, Philip Gooding, have just had their article “Between meteorology, waterworks, and race: drought and disease in the 1880s British Straits Settlements,” published in Water History.
Their article investigates the links between public health and drought in the British Straits Settlements (Singapore, Malacca, Province Wellesley, and Penang). It builds on Scudamore’s presentation at the Canadian Historical Association Conference held at McGill in 2024, which Gooding chaired, and it contributes to the IOWC’s Partnership, Appraising Risk. The article stresses how central policies and infrastructure have the capacity to both exacerbate and mitigate against the effects of drought on public health – an important intervention in the context of global warming’s effects on regional climates in the Indian Ocean World. To read more, see:
Lilia Scudamore and Philip Gooding, ‘Between meteorology, waterworks, and race: drought and disease in the 1880s British Straits Settlements,’ Water History (2025): https://doi.org/10.1007/s12685-025-00374-9
Alternatively, if your institution does not provide you with access, please reach out to Philip Gooding (philip.gooding@mcgill.ca), who has a limited number of author copies that he will be happy to share with you.
Indian Ocean World Centre 