Descrizione del progetto
La pratica della quarantena nell’Oceano Indiano del XIX secolo
La potenziale minaccia della diffusione di malattie come conseguenza della migrazione da paesi non europei è emersa durante la recente crisi migratoria. Tuttavia, tali preoccupazioni e pratiche, quali la quarantena, erano già presenti nella storia passata. Il progetto ISLand, finanziato dall’UE, intende fornire un nuovo modo di percepire le interazioni umane all’interno degli imperi coloniali e collegare gli studi coloniali alla storia medica e al concetto emergente di promozione dell’igiene e sanità pubblica. Il progetto fonde insieme storia, archeologia e antropologia per compiere un’analisi delle strutture di quarantena nell’Oceano Indiano durante il XIX secolo, periodo cruciale per gli imperi europei nella regione e un punto di svolta per la concettualizzazione della sanità pubblica moderna. La pratica della quarantena sarà esaminata dal punto di vista dei cambiamenti sociali, politici ed ecologici che hanno contraddistinto questo periodo.
Obiettivo
The proposed research presents an experimental and completely novel investigation within the historical archaeology,
applied to isolated contexts. The main objective of ISLand is to provide a new way of thinking about human interactions
within colonial empires and bringing colonial studies into dialogue with medical history and the emerging concept of
healthscaping. It seeks to do so by studying quarantine facilities in the Indian Ocean World during the long nineteenth
century, a crucial period for the history of European empires in that region and a flashpoint for the conceptualization of
modern public health. Quarantine, traditionally viewed as merely a mechanism for the control of disease, will be analyzed as
the outward material response to important changes taking place socially, ecologically, and politically at the time.
The project is a part of an international, interdisciplinary effort, combining history, archaeology, and anthropology. The
researcher will tap numerous archival sources and archaeological data from selected sites, examine them through social and
spatial analysis, and systematically analyze a test case in Mauritius through the most innovative methods that target
landscape and standing archaeology.
The broader impacts of ISLand have relevance for current European approaches to the migration crisis, where the threat of
disease has been ignited as a potentially debilitating consequence of immigration from extra-European countries. The
training-through-research project at the Stanford University, the top institution where acquiring knowledge and skills in
historical archaeology, will allow the applicant to develop into a position of professional maturity with a specific
interdisciplinary set of skills. With the support of the host institutions in EU, the researcher will promote historical archaeology
in European academy, stimulating new approaches in usual archaeological research and an interdisciplinary approach with
cultural anthropology.
Campo scientifico
Parole chiave
Programma(i)
Argomento(i)
Meccanismo di finanziamento
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)Coordinatore
1012WX Amsterdam
Paesi Bassi