Invited Session - Storms, worms, and other plagues: government control and local response in Puerto Rico, c. 1880-1920

Session Submission Type: Featured/Invited Session

Abstract

Between approximately 1880 and 1920 Puerto Rico experienced bouts of epidemic disease, invasion and colonization by the US, urbanization and environmental degradation, as well as a devastating hurricane and an earthquake. This panel is an exchange about the origins of the precarious public health situation and medical initiatives and popular reactions to the calamities. In the examination of Bailey K. Ashford’s anti-hookworm campaign, the varying agendas of US and insular health and social organizations between 1898 and 1919, and the medical and environmental problems in a San Juan neighborhood, all three papers emphasize the complexity of local responses to emergencies and challenge the image of monolithic government control.

Sub Track

• Invited Panels

Session Organizer

• Ann L Zulawski, Smith College

Chair

• Ann L Zulawski, Smith College

Individual Presentations

• Puerta de Tierra, Puerto Rico: Precarious Urban Development, Public Health Emergencies and the Struggle against Exclusion, c.1880-1920 - Ann L Zulawski, Smith College

• Jíbaros y médicos durante la “conquista de Puerto Rico para la ciencia” (norteamericana): los cuerpos anémicos en la ecuación imperial - Francisco A Scarano, University of Wisconsin/Madison

• Respuestas a crisis sanitarias en Puerto Rico, 1898-1919: gobiernos, organizaciones y personas - José G Rigau-Pérez

Discussant

• Steven P Palmer, University of Windsor