Book description
Until recently, plagues were thought to belong in the ancient past. Now
there are deep worries about global pandemics. This book presents views
from anthropology about this much publicized and complex problem. The
authors take us to places where epidemics are erupting, waning, or gone,
and to other places where they have not yet arrived, but where a
frightening story line is already in place. They explore public health
bureaucracies and political arenas where the power lies to make
decisions about what is, and is not, an epidemic. They look back into
global history to uncover disease trends and look ahead to a future of
expanding plagues within the context of climate change. The chapters are
written from a range of perspectives, from the science of modeling
epidemics to the social science of understanding them. Patterns emerge
when people are engulfed by diseases labeled as epidemics but which have
the hallmarks of plague. There are cycles of shame and blame, stigma,
isolation of the sick, fear of contagion, and end-of-the-world
scenarios. Plague, it would seem, is still among us. Until recently,
plagues were thought to belong in the ancient past. Now there are deep
worries about global pandemics. This book presents views from
anthropology about this much publicized and complex problem. The authors
take us to places where epidemics are erupting, waning, or gone, and to
other places where they have not yet arrived, but where a frightening
story line is already in place. They explore public health bureaucracies
and political arenas where the power lies to make decisions about what
is, and is not, an epidemic. They look back into global history to
uncover disease trends and look ahead to a future of expanding plagues
within the context of climate change. The chapters are written from a
range of perspectives, from the science of modeling epidemics to the
social science of understanding them. Patterns emerge when people are
engulfed by diseases labeled as epidemics but which have the hallmarks
of plague. There are cycles of shame and blame, stigma, isolation of the
sick, fear of contagion, and end-of-the-world scenarios. Plague, it
would seem, is still among us.
