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SUMMARY:The event in the syndemic: state and subject formation in the two 
 Manchurian pneumonic plague outbreaks (1910–11\, 1920–21) - Christos L
 ynteris (CRASSH)
DTSTART:20111018T120000Z
DTEND:20111018T133000Z
UID:TALK33307@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Leon Rocha
DESCRIPTION:My paper examines the 1910-11 pneumonic plague outbreak in Man
 churia at the beginning of the 20th century\, arguing that what turned the
  endemic marmot plague into a human pandemic was not\, as often assumed\, 
 simply the over-hunting of the particular animal for its fur\, but a combi
 nation of factors involving the political economy\, geopolitical tensions\
 , changes of migration patterns\, the introduction of new transport techno
 logies and a change in hunting methods in the area. And yet\, far from bei
 ng socially perceived and acted upon as what following Merrill Singer we m
 ay call a 'social syndemic'\, the Manchurian outbreak of 1910-11 was emica
 lly treated as an event. Based on Alain Badiou's theory\, I argue that thi
 nking of outbreaks as events results in the conceptualisation of syndemic 
 crises as radical ruptures that require a paradigm shift in decision-makin
 g regarding the population and its health. Thus\, events force into existe
 nce a biopolitical imagination of a void of the previous situation\, as th
 e unilateral cause leading to a particular crisis. In the case of the Manc
 hurian plague epidemic\, I argue that this void was the fatal interrelatio
 n of two lacking subject. On the one hand a subject who lacks certain sani
 tary attributes or skills and thus leads to the plague outbreak. And on th
 e other hand\, a subject who lacks both the ability to trace the alleged p
 lague-inflicting subject\, and the will to reform it\, so that it does not
  cause a crisis of collective mortality. By means of comparing the Manchur
 ian epidemic of 1910-11\, with the one of 1920-21\, my paper demonstrates 
 the centrality of this biopolitical decision on state-formation processes 
 in China.\n\nMore information about Dr Lynteris' work:\nhttp://www.crassh.
 cam.ac.uk/page/1063/dr-christos-lynteris.htm
LOCATION:Seminar Room 1\, Department of History and Philosophy of Science
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