On the Roadside: Maria Kunz and the Practice of Itinerant Missionary Doctoring in Rural South Africa, 1930s to 1970s

Summary

Maria Kunz, who came to South Africa from Switzerland in 1936, provided, for nearly 50 years, health services for rural Africans living in the Glen Grey District of the eastern Cape. Unlike the activities of many missionary doctors in Africa whose work centred around permanent clinic or hospital facilities, this article considers the activities of a Catholic missionary doctor who provided most of her services on the move in a travelling clinic. She journeyed to distant mission outstations and stopped at numerous places on the roadside. In addition to contributing to existing literature that explores the work of itinerant healers, this article examines an innovative form of biomedical practice pioneered by a woman. As a doctor who developed her practice out in the open or from the backseat of her car, Kunz became a clinical improviser who provided health care services for her patients in an under-serviced rural environment.

woman doctor, itinerant practice, missionary medicine, rural health, eastern Cape, South Africa