Viral Entanglements: Bodies, Belonging and Truth-claims in Health Borderlands

Ben Kasstan*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle (Academic Journal)peer-review

8 Citations (Scopus)
248 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

This paper contributes to anthropological debates surrounding borderlands and biosecurity by tracing the multiple pursuits of protection that emerge between the state and minorities during infectious disease outbreaks. Drawing on an ethnographic study into child health in Jerusalem following epidemics of measles and COVID-19, the paper demonstrates how responses to public health interventions are less about ‘compliance’ or ‘indiscipline’ than a competing pursuit of immunity to preserve religious lifeworlds. The voices of Orthodox (Haredi) Jews are situated alongside printed broadsides (pashkevilim) that circulated anonymous truth-claims in Jerusalem neighborhoods, which cast state intervention against historical narratives of deception and ethical failures. Borderland tensions, like a virus, mutate and influence responses to authority and biosecurity, and reconfigure vernacular entanglements of religion, state, and health. The paper encourages anthropologists to consider responses to public health interventions and non-vaccination beyond a COVID-19 silo, and as part of situated relations between the state and minority populations.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)119-138
Number of pages20
JournalMedical Anthropology Quarterly
Volume36
Issue number1
Early online date17 Jan 2022
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 21 Mar 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
. This manuscript has been much improved by generous and supportive comments from Nurit Stadler, Aaron Parkhurst, Alex Nading, and my two anonymous reviewers. Ami Dabush helped with the documentation of . I thank Claudia Merli for her invitation to present an earlier version of this article at the Department of Cultural Anthropology & Ethnology at Uppsala University on October 7, 2020. I also thank Yaacov Yadgar for his invitation to present a subsequent version at the Israel Studies Seminar Series, University of Oxford on April 27, 2021. I also acknowledge Bayla Pasikov and the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute for providing a Library Fellowship. Ethical approval to conduct this study was obtained from the Ethics Committee of Faculty of Social Sciences Review Board of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The article draws on research funded by the Lady Davis Fellowship, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, awarded to me 2019–20. Acknowledgment pashkevilim

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 by the American Anthropological Association

Keywords

  • biosecurity
  • COVID-19
  • Protection
  • Religious minorities
  • vaccination

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Viral Entanglements: Bodies, Belonging and Truth-claims in Health Borderlands'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this