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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.
This book describes how archival data inform anthropological questions about human biology and health. The authors present a diverse array of human biological evidence from a variety of sources including the archaeological record, medical collections, church records, contemporary health and growth data, and genetic information from the descendants of historical populations. The contributions demonstrate how the analysis of historical documents expands the horizons of research in human biology, extends the longitudinal analysis of microevolutionary and social processes into the present, and enhances the understanding of the human condition.
Many physical anthropologists study populations using data that
come primarily from the historical record. For this volume's
authors, the classic anthropological 'field' is not the glamour of
an exotic locale, but the sometimes tedium of the dusty back rooms
of libraries, archives and museum collections. This book tells of
the way in which archival data inform anthropological questions
about human biology and health. The authors present a diverse array
of human biological evidence from a variety of sources including
the archaeological record, medical collections, church records,
contemporary health and growth data and genetic information from
the descendants of historical populations. The papers demonstrate
how the analysis of historical documents expands the horizons of
research in human biology, extends the longitudinal analysis of
microevolutionary and social processes into the present and
enhances our understanding of the human condition.
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