Disease and Pandemics
Virtual Issues draw on the vast archives of American Anthropologist to showcase articles that are relevant to contemporary social or political problems. This issue on disease and pandemics was prompted by the coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic.
Anthropologists are well-positioned to critically examine the biological, cultural, historical, and structural issues that shape the trajectories of disease, from who is at risk of infection to how individuals, communities, and institutions respond. The articles in this issue examine a range of topics raised by the current pandemic. Some touch on cultural conceptions of illness, while others study the transmission and spread of disease. Still others bring ethnographic insights from those on the front lines: medical workers combating outbreaks or NGO workers providing aid. Finally, many of the articles underscore the economic, political, and racial inequalities that shape the social and biological lives of disease.
Together, these articles, which are free to access through June 30, highlight conceptual and methodological tools that anthropologists can use to understand disease and pandemics—in the past, present, and future.
Lamb, D. S. 1893. “The Deadly Microbe and Its Destruction.”
Crosby, Alfred W., Jr. 1969. “The Early History of Syphilis: A Reappraisal.”
Foster, George M. 1976. “Disease Etiologies in Non-Western Medical Systems.”
Weller, Susan. 1984. “Cross-Cultural Concepts of Illness: Variation and Validation.”
Kelly, Kevin M. 1999. “Malaria and Immunoglobulins in Pacific Prehistory.”
Robins, Steven. 2006. “From ‘Rights’ to ‘Ritual’: AIDS Activism in South Africa.”
Gomez-Temesio, Veronica. 2018. “Outliving Death: Ebola, Zombies, and the Politics of Saving Lives.”