Ecologies of Disease Control: Spaces of Health Security in Historical Perspective

Charts the History of the Relationship Between Ecological Thinking and Practices of Disease Control. Health security is inextricably linked to ecology. Among the most recent manifestations of this nexus are concerns over interspecies spillover scenarios, global microbial traffic, and environmental determinants of disease in the time of COVID-19. Ecologies of Disease includes contributions from history, sociology, human geography, cultural anthropology, and case studies from the late 18th century until our present and demonstrates how current modes of ecological reasoning resonate with historical responses to epidemic disease. Dealing with phenomena such as plantation ecologies, spatial vaccination strategies, modelling techniques, or the body as a metabolic milieu, the chapters reveal how relational thinking in disease control has been intricately tied to modes of power. Using a multidisciplinary approach, this collection seeks to start a broader conversation not only about the deeper roots and longer trajectory of our current regime of health security but also about the recent rise of ecological thinking in social theory and the humanities themselves. AUTHORS: Carolin Mezes is currently a Post-Doctoral Fellow at InChange at Bielefeld University. Sven Opitz is a Professor of Political Sociology at Philipps University, Marburg. Andrea Wiegeshoff is an Affiliated Researcher in the Department of Modern History, University of Marburg, Adjunct Lecturer, Universities of St. Gallen and Bonn.