A sociology of the colonial origins of governance and epidemic response

Abstract

I discuss recent contributions to the sociology and history of medicine presented in the book Epidemic Orientalism: Race, Capital, and the Governance of Infectious Disease, by Alexandre White. The work, which resulted from extensive documentary research conducted across multiple countries, examines the origins and evolution of the international control of infectious diseases, proposing a concept that delineates the operation of regulatory mechanisms and bureaucracies in the governance of epidemics. Through a genealogical approach, the author demonstrates how, in the contemporary period, the legacies of colonialism, racism, and capitalism remain operative, reproducing inequalities between Western and non-Western nations. This ideological matrix is constituted through a complex articulation between historical processes and health policies, which, over time, have shaped institutional responses to global health crises and continue to influence how different societies confront outbreaks of infectious diseases.