As has been widely reported, a novel coronavirus appeared in Wuhan, China in December 2019. Spreading rapidly through the city, and eventually the province of Hubei in January, countries and cities in the region started to implement travel restrictions in…
Monströs oder gespenstisch? Fragen von Schuld, Verantwortung und Solidarität in Zeiten der Corona-Pandemie (#WitnessingCorona)
Dieser Text stellt eine theoretische Reflexion zur Corona-Pandemie dar, die ich aus einer Situation in meiner Feldforschung zur lokalen Aushandlung des globalen Klimawandels im Rheinland entwickelt habe. Da in Deutschland seit Ende März 2020 aufgrund der globalen Corona-Pandemie alle…
‘Stay on your continent!’ Coronavirus and the alarm of European spread in South Africa (#WitnessingCorona)
When the first cases of infection started to appear in southern Germany, Jens Spahn, the Federal Minister of Health, was optimistic about the ability of German health authorities to contact trace and isolate infected persons (n-tv 2020). Everyday life would…
New Publication “Transfigurations of Health and the Moral Economy of Medicine: Subjectivities, Materialities, Values”
The health sector is one of the largest and most rapidly growing branches of the global economy. The world’s biggest pharmaceutical companies earn hundreds of billions of dollars per year, thereby exceeding many countries’ gross domestic product. The health sector…
Different Shades of White: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Albinotic Body – Conference Report
Several phenomena have contributed to the increased attention paid to albinism in the past decade. The terrible atrocities inflicted on persons with albinism in East Africa made international headlines. In response, local and global actors – from the Tanzania Albinism…
Review of “The politics of vaccination. A global history” (Edited by Christine Holmberg, Stuart Blume and Paul Greenough)
“The politics of vaccination. A global history” is a multi-faceted study of the connections between vaccination, identity (constructions and politics), political systems and resistance across time and place. The edited volume is based on the proceedings of two conferences in…