ESHS/HSS Annual Meeting

Brucellosis, Uncertainty, and the Humanimal Body

• In Event: Disruptive Encounters: Historicizing More-Than-Human Lives in Palestine

English Abstract

Brucellosis, arguably the most common zoonotic disease in the world, was stabilized as a distinct entity in tropical medicine research across different colonial contexts at the turn of the 20th century. Also known as Malta Fever or the Mediterranean Fever, the disease is transmitted from livestock to humans through bodily excretions, most notably through the consumption of contaminated milk. Despite the early description and identification of the bacillus, Brucellosis has been continuously understood as an unresolved matter in terms of diagnosis, treatment, and prevention. In British-ruled Palestine, it emerged as a challenge to both governance and the growth of the settler dairy industry, and with time, disproportionately affected the Palestinian Arab population and its herds. Various levels of uncertainty contributed to its endurance, making one Jewish settler farmer, whose goat was possibly sick, turn to the colonial veterinary authorities and beg for help, explaining how the entire settlement was at risk “as long as the question of the disease isn’t finalized.” In light of the dramatic rise in human cases in recent years, both within the recognized borders of the Israeli State and in the occupied Palestinian territories, scholars have demonstrated how management of the disease has intersected with questions of discrimination, racism, and mistrust. Combining the perspectives of environmental history and the history of medicine and the body, this talk uncovers the geopolitical history of this disease, focusing specifically on the early- and mid-20th century. It will pay particular attention to how the disease’s unknowns played into its management and abuse, but also articulate how the analysis of diseases that crossed the human/animal divide helps broaden the conversation in the history of the medical sciences.

Author

• Tamar Novick, Technical University of Munich