Best regards, Andrew Stewart
Begin forwarded message: > From: H-Net Staff via H-REVIEW <[email protected]> > Date: May 25, 2021 at 11:09:35 AM EDT > To: [email protected] > Cc: H-Net Staff <[email protected]> > Subject: H-Net Review [H-Environment]: Gunaydi on Sigerist, 'Civilization > and Disease' > Reply-To: [email protected] > > Henry E. Sigerist. Civilization and Disease. Messenger Lectures > Series. Ithaca Cornell University Press, 2018. 300 pp. $19.95 > (paper), ISBN 978-1-5017-2343-8. > > Reviewed by Mustafa Emre Gunaydi (Iowa State University) > Published on H-Environment (May, 2021) > Commissioned by Daniella McCahey > > While medical historians of the late twentieth and early twenty-first > centuries have built a diverse and increasingly dynamic literature > tracking and revising the histories of plague, cholera, smallpox, > syphilis, influenza, and AIDS in different temporalities and > socio-spatial contexts, fewer scholars have been intrepid enough to > consider "disease" from a more holistic, even global perspective. Is > disease an embedded part of civilization? This question is big and > open-ended. Nevertheless, Henry E. Sigerist (1891-1957), a well-known > medical historian of his time, ambitiously tried to present the > combined histories of disease and culture in Civilization and > Disease. First published by Cornell University Press in 1943 and > reprinted by the original publisher in 2018 with the addition of a > foreword by Elizabeth Fee, the book is a kind of a medical equivalent > to Arnold J. Toynbee's civilization-spanning magnum opus, A Study of > History (1934), or as something of a precursor to William H. > McNeill's Plagues and Peoples (1976). > > Sigerist was born in Paris in 1891 and immigrated to the United > States after receiving an invitation from Johns Hopkins University to > become the director of the Institute of the History of Medicine in > 1932. He was a politically active leftist during his academic career > in the US. He spent years supporting universal health care across the > country through his many talks, interviews, lectures, and the great > collection of his books, articles, and essays. He was interested in > the Soviet model of medical care and believed that individualized > medical practices resulted from "primitive science and technology." > From his perspective, modern knowledge and medical technologies made > a universal health care system both possible and necessary. It "was > but one step in this inevitable historical progression."[1] > > _Civilization and Disease_ attempts to convey the ambiguous > relationship between civilization and disease in the history of > "human progression." While doing this, Sigerist broke civilization > into its constitutive elements, ranging from economics, culture, law, > religion, philosophy, and science to art, literature, and music, and > scrutinized their reciprocal relationship with the disease to > demonstrate the development of medicine in these spheres of life. > Unlike most of his contemporary colleagues, he did not pursue a > narrative that presents civilization as an antidote to human > incapacity against disease. Instead, Sigerist aimed to highlight the > agential capacities of both culture and disease in mutually preparing > their conditions and shaping their futures. > > Chapters 1 and 2 discuss the side effects of civilization in the form > of diseases. Without limiting himself only to the post-industrial > world, Sigerist illuminated how "civilization has often produced > conditions detrimental to health" (p. 4). Societal norms that forced > women to wear small shoes and the corset in the late medieval period > caused severe health problems, such as ingrown nails and respiration > and digestion problems. Occupational diseases, either resulting from > excessive labor or poor working conditions, also exhausted human > bodies and made them vulnerable to infections. The Industrial > Revolution that was followed by the processes of excessive > urbanization and infrastructural collapse exacerbated bodily > vulnerability and mainly affected "the unskilled laborer and his > family" (pp. 55-56). Therefore, disease started to be associated with > the lower classes in the industrialized world. > > In chapters 3, 4, and 5, Sigerist also paid attention to the role of > disease in shaping societal relations. He focused on segregation, > exclusion, and quarantine practices, imposed on patients suffering > from diseases like leprosy, plague, or syphilis. He also uniquely > showed that the effects of disease on human bodies and their > resonance in society changed over time. While syphilis was recognized > as a disease with sexual character in the late Middle Ages, it "did > not involve any moral reprobation" (p. 76). However, the rise of the > middle class in the nineteenth century resulted in syphilis's > increasingly moralizing association with sexual licentiousness and > the decay of family values. In chapter 5, Sigerist also evaluated the > transformative power of catastrophic diseases in the forms of > pandemics and epidemics by focusing on well-known examples in the > history of Western civilization, such as the plague of Justinian, the > Black Death, and malaria epidemics in ancient Greece, as well as in > the nineteenth century. > > Chapters 6, 7, and 8 provide a genealogy of the evolution of medicine > from ancient times to the twentieth century. While chapter 6 focuses > on the historical role of religion, myth, and tradition in dealing > with diseases, the next chapter turns to the secularization of > medical practices and the emergence of humoral theory in ancient > Greece and its subsequent adoption by medical practitioners of the > late Middle Ages in the West. In chapter 8, Sigerist highlighted the > role of modern anatomy and technological advancements in medicine and > pharmacology that paved the way for modern medicine. > > Chapter 9 analyzes the role of disease in literature and pays more > attention to the movement of naturalism and naturalist writers. > Naturalist writers provided detailed descriptions of disease symptoms > as different from writers in other literary schools that were > interested in the effects of diseases on their protagonists' lives. > In chapter 10, Sigerist constructed an interesting connection between > disease, artists, and medicine. Disease has always inspired artists > and became one of their major themes. Thus, in turn, Sigerist > underscored the unsung role that artists played in the development of > medical practices. He established a direct connection between the > rise of anatomical knowledge in human history and the role of > artists' crafts in the forms of illustrations, drawings, handicrafts, > or sculptures. Sigerist asserted that "the rise of anatomy would have > been impossible without the cooperation of artists" (p. 206). In > chapter 11, he focused on the relationship between music and disease. > He specifically concentrated on the therapeutical uses of music to > treat disease symptoms and the case of tarantism in Apulia, Italy. > > In many respects, _Civilization and Disease_ has naturally been > superseded by more recent developments in the historiography. > Therefore, it carries some characteristics of its period and has now > been well criticized by revisionist historiography for decades. > Sigerist's historical perspective is evolutionary and progressive. > His depiction of human civilization is almost limited to American and > Western European histories. Women's role as actors with their own > agency in his imagined civilizational progression is also ignored. > > Nevertheless, Sigerist's advocacy for universal health care makes his > work still relevant today. _Civilization and Disease_ was reprinted > in an atmosphere in which right-wing obstruction of state-sponsored > health care remained a key battleground in American politics. The > Trump administration put "Obamacare" (the 2010 Affordable Care Act) > under sustained attack and was able to make some changes to it with > an executive order in 2017. Fee, the foreword's author in the > reprinted version, is also a supporter of Sigerist's medical reform > politics and the initiator of Sigerist Circle within the American > Public Health Association. Combined with the dire stakes of the > political landscape at the time, Fee's career provides an important > context for the reprinting of Sigerist's work roughly three-quarters > of a century after its original publication. > > _Civilization and Disease_'s reevaluation of past pandemics and > advocacy for universal health care has also taken on new significance > when considered alongside the devastating effects of the COVID-19 > pandemic's impact on both American and wider global infrastructures > of the welfare state. The current pandemic decisively proved that > privatized medical systems featuring weaker public health messaging > and infrastructures are deeply vulnerable to global health crises. > _Civilization and Disease_ was reprinted just before the pandemic, > but it perfectly overlaps with the troubling new questions raised by > COVID-19. How can states and societies better prepare for and manage > the rising tide of risks posed by emerging pathogens and pandemics in > a globalized world made evermore vulnerable by our changing climate? > > Note > > [1]. Elizabeth Fee, "The Pleasures and Perils of Prophetic Advocacy: > Henry E. Sigerist and the Politics of Medical Reform," _American > Journal of Public Health_ 86, no. 11 (1996): 1637. > > Citation: Mustafa Emre Gunaydi. Review of Sigerist, Henry E., > _Civilization and Disease_. H-Environment, H-Net Reviews. May, 2021. > URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=56175 > > This work is licensed under a Creative Commons > Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States > License. > > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. 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