Histories of Post-Mortem Contagion

Download or read book Histories of Post-Mortem Contagion written by Christos Lynteris and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-12-13 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This edited volume draws historians and anthropologists together to explore the contested worlds of epidemic corpses and their disposal. Why are burials so frequently at the center of disagreement, recrimination and protest during epidemics? Why are the human corpses produced in the course of infectious disease outbreaks seen as dangerous, not just to the living, but also to the continued existence of society and civilization? Examining cases from the Black Death to Ebola, contributors challenge the predominant idea that a single, universal framework of contagion can explain the political, social and cultural importance and impact of the epidemic corpse.