“Ourselves Writ savage”: Disease, Desire, and Colonialism in Kuru Country

This essay interrogates the intersections of colonialism, western science, and desire through an analysis of the outbreak of kuru in Papua New Guinea in the mid-20th century. I argue that cannibalism drew eyes to the eastern highlands, and the discovery of kuru kept the colonial gaze fixed firmly on the region. Finally, I explore how the appetites of D. Carleton Gajdusek, both medical and sexual, further entrenched western power.