Anomalies of Pigmentation Among Natives of Nyasaland.: A Contribution to the Study of Albinism

Abstract

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In Southern Africa, Brown Oculocutaneous Albinism (BOCA) Maps to the OCA2 Locus on Chromosome 15q: P-Gene Mutations Identified

“…Brown oculocutaneous albinism (BOCA; MIM 203290) or type IV oculocutaneous albinism (fig. 1) was first described in black individuals in Malawi (Stannus 1913) and later was named "brown albinism" by King et al (1980), after their study in Nigeria. Affected individuals were noted to have cream to light tan skin, beige to light brown hair, and blue-green to brown irides with moderate transillumination defects, nystagmus, and reduced retinal pigment.…”

Medicine Killings, Abduction of People with Albinism, Wealth and Prosperity in North Malawi: A Historical Assessment

“…During the early 20th century, albinism in scholarship was largely interpreted from the perspective of understanding the nature and types of people living with albinism. Stannus' (1913) publication stands out as a classic account that made an attempt to document cases of albinism in colonial Malawi. Hugh Stannus was a medical Doctor in colonial Malawi more particularly during the early part of the 20 th Century.…”

“…Specifically, it builds on Braathen (2005) study and Amnesty International Report on Malawi (2016) which have extensively detailed current beliefs about people with albinism in Malawi and the extent to which these have affected the welfare of such people and their close aides. While research on albinism is not new in African history (see works by, Stannus, 1913;Archibald, 1924; Amnesty International Report 2016), the study specifically intended to map the prevailing belief systems and attitudes about people with albinism into a newer historical context that should reassess their position within the colonial period and the various influences that have overtime shaped and reshaped such mentalities and beliefs. A review of such beliefs relative to the nature of PWA and how their nature links to perceived prosperity was deeply studied to establish how they evolved and expanded in history.…”

“…This practice of using bones as ritual objects for accumulating wealth appears to be an ancient theory even in pre-colonial societies of Malawi. Describing on issues about human bones and how these were used during the pre-colonial times in Nyasaland, Stannus (1913) crudely describes how witches and other groups would dig graves and obtain bones for dead people for use as objects to perform particular rituals (Stannus, 1913: 302). The account however does not make any specific reference to people with albinism.…”

“…Despite this emphasis on how skin colour contributed towards placement within a particular hierarchy, there is a drought on the documentation about how this affected and affects relations between people with albinism and those without. Available works on albinism in colonial Africa, Malawi inclusive, have simply provided a highlight of the existence of such people and how their skin difference and nature earned them directed terms and descriptions (Stannus, 1913;Newbold and Archibald, 1924); Krappe, 1944;Braathen, 2005).…”