Discrimination, Othering, and the Political Instrumentalizing of Pandemic Disease Two Case Studies (original) (raw)
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This review offers an overview of several devastating historical epidemics and pandemics. The first pandemic ravaging the Middle East and Ancient Egypt was an unidentified "plague" in the late Bronze Age. The plague of Athens was apparently "only" a local epidemic but with fatal consequences for that ancient democracy. Great empires with well-developed trade routes seem to be very susceptible to rapid and devastating spreads as the Antonine Plague, the Plague of Cyprian and the Justinian Plague testify. The great Medieval plague wave in Europe was absolutely devastating, but for the first time it brought along with it substantial containment measures that are still being successfully used today (e.g. isolation, quarantine) as well as the seeds of the development of a new form of medical theory and practice. The blame game that can be observed in the current COVID-19 pandemic has also been seen in previous epidemics and pandemics. Particularly in the case of syphilis, its origin was often attributed to foreign countries. Finally, the paper comparatively stresses the historical importance of an early implementation of a lockdown-based approach as an effective form of controlling epidemic spreads. Riassunto. Le epidemie e le pandemie nella storia dell'umanità e la maniera tenuta dai governi nel gestirle. Una review dall'Età del Bronzo alla prima Età moderna Questa rassegna offre una panoramica su diverse devastanti epidemie e pandemie nella storia. La prima pandemia che ha devastato il Medio Oriente e l'antico Egitto è stata una "peste" non ancora identificata alla fine dell'Età del Bronzo. La Peste di Atene fu apparentemente "solo" un'epidemia locale, ma con conseguenze fatali per l'antica democrazia. Grandi imperi con vie commerciali ben sviluppate sembrano essere molto suscettibili alla rapida e devastante diffusione epidemica, come testimoniano la Peste Antonina, la Peste di Cipriano e la Peste di Giustiniano. La grande ondata epidemica di peste nell'Europa medievale si è rivelata assolutamente devastante, ma per la prima volta ha portato con sé sostanziali misure di contenimento che ancora oggi vengono utilizzate con successo (ad es. isolamento, quarantena) e lo sviluppo di una nuova forma di teoria e pratica medica. Il gioco dell'incolparsi vicendevolmente che si può osservare nell'attuale pandemia di COVID-19 può, inoltre, essere osservato anche nelle precedenti epidemie e pandemie. In particolare nel caso della sifilide, l'origine del morbo era spesso attribuita a nazioni straniere. L'articolo, infine, sottolinea in maniera comparativa l'importanza storica dell'applicazione precoce di un approccio basato sul confinamento quale forma di di efficace forma di controllo delle diffusioni epidemiche.
My analysis of 18th century plague stresses the importance of a discursive approach to the analysis of illness, in order to understand the components of health policy as rational technology, which brings out social dispositives and facilitates the observation and evaluation of the population as a whole. The genealogical investigation of plague discourse concentrates on the emergence of a specific biopolitical rationality, which enables regulation of the population and control of individuals. My analysis looks at the emergence of this way of thinking, how it was employed and the way in which it functioned (in terms of its observation and description techniques), so that this discursive process can be seen as having created an exemplary set of preconditions for how AIDS is currently confronted. The discourse on plague is interpreted as a means of constructing illness, whereby its epidemic characteristics are seen as being linked to the structure of its meanings. The discursive space should ideally be permeated by a completely discursive typology of infection, which makes it possible to examine the biotechnical colonisation of the population. The discourse surrounding epidemics therefore always requires that the discourse anticipates the epidemic, prescribes the symbolic form of infection and excludes no–one, so that it can speak to everyone. In this way, the qualities and characteristics of epidemic illnesses are subsumed within the expressive categories of plague discourse, in order to create a text which itself functions as a form of symbolic infection.