Short Abstract

How do diseases move people in the Mediterranean and beyond? We ask how diseases and their legacies move people and shape socio-cultural and more-than-human realities, exploring how they are embodied, materialized, affectively experienced, politically mobilised or embedded in everyday practices.

Long Abstract

Diseases and health threats of humans and animals have always been major factors driving people to move or be moved. The social and cultural impacts and memories of disease have received little scholarly attention so far. This also holds true for regions where the (health) threat has already disappeared. This session explores how legacies and memories of disease shape how people relate to their social, material and more-than-human environments. As has been demonstrated by the COVID-19 pandemic, strategies for coping with health threats can become deeply ingrained in socio-cultural practices. Despite their significant impact on people and societies, it remains largely unknown how societies process disease, and how this may give rise to lasting socio-cultural and affective patterns of behaviour. This is particularly striking given that such practices are key factors in the socio-economic and political development of many regions around the globe. This applies even to cases where a disease has been eliminated, yet its legacy may persist to shape social structures, interactions, and perceptions of vulnerability.

The GAA Mediterranean Regional Group invites scholars working in the Mediterranean and its neighbouring regions to discuss the effects of disease. Contributions should address how diseases move people, animals and pathogens, how they mediate vulnerability and shape social, political, cultural and more-than-human realities. We welcome contributions addressing how their legacies move people and shape social, political, cultural and more-than-human realities, exploring how they are embodied, materialized, affectively experienced, politically mobilised or embedded in everyday practices and relations.