Material Proximities and Hotspots: Toward an Anthropology of Viral Hemorrhagic Fevers

Brown, H.; Kelly, A.H.

doi:10.1111/maq.12092

Material Proximities and Hotspots: Toward an Anthropology of Viral Hemorrhagic Fevers

Brown, H.; Kelly, A.H.

Authors

Professor Hannah Brown hannah.brown@durham.ac.uk
Professor

A.H. Kelly

Abstract

This article outlines a research program for an anthropology of viral hemorrhagic fevers (collectively known as VHFs). It begins by reviewing the social science literature on Ebola, Marburg, and Lassa fevers and charting areas for future ethnographic attention. We theoretically elaborate the hotspot as a way of integrating analysis of the two routes of VHF infection: from animal reservoirs to humans and between humans. Drawing together recent anthropological investigations of human–animal entanglements with an ethnographic interest in the social production of space, we seek to enrich conceptualizations of viral movement by elaborating the circumstances through which viruses, humans, objects, and animals come into contact. We suggest that attention to the material proximities—between animals, humans, and objects—that constitute the hotspot opens a frontier site for critical and methodological development in medical anthropology and for future collaborations in VHF management and control.

Citation

Brown, H., & Kelly, A. (2014). Material Proximities and Hotspots: Toward an Anthropology of Viral Hemorrhagic Fevers. Medical Anthropology Quarterly, 28(2), 280-303. https://doi.org/10.1111/maq.12092

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	May 8, 2013
Online Publication Date	Apr 21, 2014
Publication Date	Jun 1, 2014
Deposit Date	May 13, 2013
Publicly Available Date	May 16, 2014
Journal	Medical Anthropology Quarterly
Print ISSN	0745-5194
Electronic ISSN	1548-1387
Publisher	Wiley
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	28
Issue	2
Pages	280-303
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1111/maq.12092
Keywords	Hotspot, Viral hemorrhagic fevers, Material proximities, Animal studies, Space.

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Copyright Statement
Advance online version © 2014 The Authors. Medical Anthropology Quarterly published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of American Anthropological Association.
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.