The Epidemiologist as Culture Hero: Visualizing Humanity in the Age of “the Next Pandemic”
Accepted version
Peer-reviewed
Repository URI
Repository DOI
Change log
Authors
Lynteris, C https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8397-0050
Abstract
Concern over the “coming plague,” a projected microbiological catastrophe threatening the survival of humanity, has come to generate a new cinematic figure: the epidemiologist as culture hero. The visual narrative of the “coming plague” unfolds in recent films, where the biopolitical content of this symbolic form becomes clear. This article examines how, by merging fears regarding the next pandemic with apocalyptic fantasy, the films in question institute the epidemiologist as responsible for the re-pastoralization and re-pasteurization of humanity—a goal achieved by setting self-limitation of individual freedoms as the condition for the biological and ontological perseverance of humankind.
Description
Keywords
4401 Anthropology, 44 Human Society
Journal Title
Visual Anthropology
Conference Name
Journal ISSN
0894-9468
1545-5920
1545-5920
Volume Title
29
Publisher
Informa UK Limited