ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book presents the perspectives of people who have been engulfed in experiences of infectious diseases labeled epidemics but having the hallmarks of plague: cycles of shame and blame, stigmatizing discourses, isolation of the sick, fear of contagion, and end-of-the-world scenarios. It draws attention to the ways in which health and technoscientific information is reshaping biomedical and scientific objects, institutions, and daily life. The book considers how epidemics come to be defined in the first place, taking up the issue of who in fact has the power to observe and report on epidemics in the making. It reviews the basic understanding of epidemiological transitions on a global scale, in deep history. The book considers how anthropologists and other social scientists model epidemics in rigorous, quantitative ways without losing sight of the intimate details of diverse cultural contexts.
