Zika is in the air.
The beginning of 2016 has seen the world thrust into another global infectious disease crisis, fanned by the politics and fear of uncertainty and media speculation. Reports of the Zika virus outbreak emerged in late 2015, and have proliferated in early 2016. Most distressing have been the headlines, and associated images, possibly linking the virus …
In addition to being a biological and disease-causing agent, the Zika virus is also acting as an “epidemic of signification” (Treichler 1987): a lightning rod for social and political relations, economic fault-lines, gender inequalities and much else besides. As the perspectives presented here demonstrate, there are clearly a number of ways that social scientists, in conjunction with biomedical researchers and …
Science, Medicine, and Anthropology