The DOI matches its Crossref record; 53 of the 54 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Administering Colonial Science: Nutrition Research and Human Biomedical Experimentation in Aboriginal Communities and Residential Schools, 1942–1952
Abstract
Between 1942 and 1952, some of Canada’s leading nutrition experts, in cooperation with various federal departments, conducted an unprecedented series of nutritional studies of Aboriginal communities and residential schools. The most ambitious and perhaps best known of these was the 1947–1948 James Bay Survey of the Attawapiskat and Rupert’s House Cree First Nations. Less well known were two separate long-term studies that went so far as to include controlled experiments conducted, apparently without the subjects’ informed consent or knowledge, on malnourished Aboriginal populations in Northern Manitoba and, later, in six Indian residential schools. This article explores these studies and experiments, in part to provide a narrative record of a largely unexamined episode of exploitation and neglect by the Canadian government. At the same time, it situates these studies within the context of broader federal policies governing the lives of Aboriginal peoples, a shifting Canadian consensus concerning the science of nutrition, and changing attitudes towards the ethics of biomedical experimentation on human beings during a period that encompassed, among other things, the establishment of the Nuremberg Code of experimental research ethics.
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In the citing paper
“In fall 1948, the researchers turned their attention to Canada's Indian Residential Schools, conducting tests over a five-year period at six residential schools across the nation with close to 1000 Indigenous children selected for the experiments.”
From “Indigenizing” Food Sovereignty. Revitalizing Indigenous Food Practices and Ecological Knowledges in Canada and the United States (2016) · cites this paper as [20]
In the citing paper
“Investigations of the Alberni Residential School found run-down, inadequate kitchen facilities and, as was the case with the other schools included in the study, poor and inadequate diets given to the students.”
From “Indigenizing” Food Sovereignty. Revitalizing Indigenous Food Practices and Ecological Knowledges in Canada and the United States (2016) · cites this paper as [20]
In the citing paper
“A 1946 study, published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, moved the focus away from these inferior culture arguments and linked these social and health problems to inadequate and unhealthy food.”
From “Indigenizing” Food Sovereignty. Revitalizing Indigenous Food Practices and Ecological Knowledges in Canada and the United States (2016) · cites this paper as [20]
In the citing paper
“What Mosby found even more disturbing was that these food experiments were being conducted without the children's knowledge and without their parent's consent.”
From “Indigenizing” Food Sovereignty. Revitalizing Indigenous Food Practices and Ecological Knowledges in Canada and the United States (2016) · cites this paper as [20]
In the citing paper
“As part of the study, some of the children's diets were enhanced with Western food products such as milk and fruit, along with vitamin supplements, while other children in the study were given nothing or placebos ( [20], pp.161-62).”
From “Indigenizing” Food Sovereignty. Revitalizing Indigenous Food Practices and Ecological Knowledges in Canada and the United States (2016) · cites this paper as [20]
In the citing paper
“However, rather than develop policies that would support the revitalization of Indigenous food systems or provide them with healthy traditional foods, the dietitians conducting the studies sought to address these problems by promoting what they saw as more nutritious Western foods like milk, cheese, and fruit ( [20], p. 155).”
From “Indigenizing” Food Sovereignty. Revitalizing Indigenous Food Practices and Ecological Knowledges in Canada and the United States (2016) · cites this paper as [20]
Citations
Cites
A history and theory of informed consent
Kapp, M. B. (1986) · Journal of Legal Medicine · doi:10.1080/01947648609513478 · Cited by 2,328
Bad Blood: The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment
Kiple, K. F., & Jones, J. H. (1982) · The American Historical Review · doi:10.2307/1870318 · Cited by 817
(2011) · Cited by 782
Strangers at the bedside: a history of how law and bioethics transformed medical decision making
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Imperial medicine and indigenous societies
(1988) · Manchester University Press eBooks · doi:10.7765/9781526123664 · Cited by 504
Shingwauk's vision: a history of native residential schools
(1997) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.34-3999 · Cited by 503
The Nuremberg Code and the Nuremberg Trial
Katz, J. (1996) · JAMA · doi:10.1001/jama.1996.03540200048030 · Cited by 261
Subjected to Science: Human Experimentation in America before the Second World War
Lederer, S. E., & Davis, A. B. (1995) · History Reviews of New Books · doi:10.1080/03612759.1995.9949143 · Cited by 243
The Foreign Policy of the Calorie
Cullather, N. (2007) · The American Historical Review · doi:10.1086/ahr.112.2.337 · Cited by 229
(2000) · Medical Entomology and Zoology · Cited by 210
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Items 401–408 of 408
Manohar, S., Sirwatka, A. Q., Walton, Z., Galaria, A., Smith, P. R., Yates, J., Mthombeni, A., Sparling, T. M., & Ramya, A. (2026) · Research Square · doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-8632071/v2
Survivance as Truth-Telling Pedagogy: Reconciliation Education and Indigenous Continuance in Canada
Busch, L. P. A. (2026) · Emerald Group Publishing Limited eBooks · doi:10.1108/978-1-83742-189-320261004
Jessica, P., Watson, A., Dutton, S., Patterson, K., Kernot, P.-D., Kehoe, J., Traviss, S., Wilson, M., Carriere-Prill, C., Bayoumi, I., et al. (2026) · International Journal of Qualitative Methods · doi:10.1177/16094069261489356
Hayward, A., Phanlouvong, A., Wiebe, S., Cyr, M., & Herrera, D. (2026) · Journal of Participatory Research Methods · doi:10.35844/001c.167165
Antwi, E. K., Yohuno, P. T., Boakye-Danquah, J., Darko, A. N., Churchill, D., Young, D., Bergeron, M., White, T., Beauchemin, J.-J., McKinney, C., et al. (2026) · Social Sciences · doi:10.3390/socsci15100687
Social Science and Settler Colonial Governance: The Panel on Indian Research
Wotherspoon, T. (2026) · Journal of Canadian Studies · doi:10.3138/jcs-2026-0020
Decolonizing liver cancer research—Ethics, capacity and local ownership
Mbodi, L., Maringa, V. D., Adam, M. A., Uzabakiriho, B., Misner, R., Prasad, A., Paranjpe, R., Prasad, S. K., & Dlamini, Z. (2026) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-443-45925-2.00016-0
Ferguson, R. (2014) · T.M.C. Asser Press eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-94-6265-014-5_10
Metadata
- Authors
- Mosby, I.
- Corresponding author
- Mosby, Ian
- Venue
- Histoire sociale/Social history
- Publisher
- Project MUSE
- Published
- 2013
- Volume
- 46
- Issue
- 91
- Pages
- 145-172
- ISSN
- 0018-2257 (ISSN-L)
- 1918-6576
- OpenAlex
- W2101536803
- Cited by
- 407
- References
- 54
- Citations by year
- 2026: 42 · 2025: 26 · 2024: 70 · 2023: 52 · 2022: 34 · 2021: 48 · 2020: 23 · 2019: 25 · 2018: 13 · 2017: 20 · 2016: 23 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 17 · 2013: 5
- FWCI
- 20.25
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Histoire sociale (publishedVersion)
- Project Muse (Johns Hopkins University) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Health › Indigenous Health, Education, and Rights
- Social Sciences › Anthropology › Indigenous Cultures and History
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History › Medical History and Research
- Keywords
- colonial science, nutrition research, Aboriginal peoples, residential schools, malnutrition, informed consent, research ethics, Nuremberg Code, federal Indian policy, northern Manitoba, Canadian federal government, 1940s
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