{"id":4985,"date":"2020-04-16T17:35:07","date_gmt":"2020-04-16T15:35:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ifas.org.za\/research\/?p=4985"},"modified":"2022-12-07T15:08:14","modified_gmt":"2022-12-07T13:08:14","slug":"social-scientists-views-on-covid-19-in-southern-africa-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ifas.org.za\/research\/blog\/social-scientists-views-on-covid-19-in-southern-africa-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Social scientists\u2019 views on Covid-19 in Southern Africa (3)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Le chol\u00e9ra en France, L\u2019Illustration<\/em>, 1884.
http:\/\/ https:\/\/www.biusante.parisdescartes.fr\/histmed\/image?CISC0238x1<\/a>

<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Exceptionally, we propose here two contributions in French, which are also an invitation to take a step out of the Southern African situation for a while. These contributions revolve around the following questions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 Can we use history to understand the current Covid-19 epidemic?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 How can historians think what is new, unprecedented, when their disciplinary reflex is often to seek similarities in situations of the past?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 What does a pandemic reveal about the nature of our contemporary societies?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two French-speaking historians allow us to reflect on how history may \u2014 or may not \u2014 contribute to the scientific discussion about the current epidemic (to non-French speakers: don’t hesitate to have this text translated by an automatic translator, such as DeepL<\/a>: it is worth the effort).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alexandre Klein<\/strong><\/a> <\/strong>is a specialist of medical history at the University of Ottawa. He offers an insightful analysis of the coronavirus crisis through the prism of Gilles Deleuze\u2019s philosophical concepts. In particular, he shows that the current pandemic is the first to occur within \u201ccontrol societies\u201d (Deleuze) that are very different from the classic \u201cdisciplinary societies\u201d described by Michel Foucault: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDisciplinary societies organized around institutions of confinement (factories, hospitals, schools, prisons), which Michel Foucault had described a decade earlier, were thus succeeded by more fluid societies, \u2018obviously no longer passing through environments of confinement\u2019, but through a series of devices, often technological, of control”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

READ <\/strong>Alexandre Klein, Une \u00e9pid\u00e9mie du contr\u00f4le, HistoireEngagee.ca, 8\/04\/2020<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Guillaume Lachenal<\/strong><\/a> <\/strong>is a historian of medicine in colonial and contemporary Africa at the University Paris-Diderot and a member of the Sphere laboratory. He is interviewed on France Culture radio about the relevance of the comparison between Covid-19 outbreak and the epidemics of the past. In the first sound document, Lachenal suggests the dead ends that such a comparative approach may lead to : the social, mental and scientific frameworks differ greatly from one era to another; there are also biological differences: we do not have the same bodies as in the Middle Ages, for example; our societies have a different relationship to medicine and to doctors; etc. He also points out some elements of convergence in all epidemic outbreaks : rumours; flight reactions; the creation of “epidemic narratives” (as the historian Charles Rosenberg called them); the inventive capacities of human societies; the search for a miracle treatment; etc.). He also pays a tribute to the historian Marc Bloch who reflected on  the astonishment that seizes us collectively and prevents us to think clearly, and the difficulty for historians to struggle with present events. Finally, he warns against a tendency for historians to retreat into the past and to compare at all costs with the present situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LISTEN :<\/strong> 1st podcast: France Culture, “Que valent les comparaisons avec les \u00e9pid\u00e9mies du pass\u00e9 ?”<\/a>, 14\/04\/2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LISTEN :<\/strong>A second podcast extends this reflection on the historians\u2019 views on Covid-19 : Paroles d’histoires, “100.Le coronavirus, perspectives historiques, avec Guillaume Lachenal”,<\/a>25\/03\/2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regards des sciences humaines et sociales sur le Covid-19 en Afrique australe (3)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Une fois n\u2019est pas coutume : nous proposons deux liens vers des interventions en fran\u00e7ais qui constituent \u00e0 la fois un pas de c\u00f4t\u00e9 linguistique et invitent \u00e0 sortir un moment de la situation de l\u2019Afrique australe. Ces interventions tournent autour de questions importantes :<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014  Peut-on recourir \u00e0 l\u2019histoire pour comprendre l\u2019actuelle \u00e9pid\u00e9mie de Covid-19 ?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 Comment les historiens peuvent-ils penser le neuf, l\u2019in\u00e9dit, alors que leur r\u00e9flexe disciplinaire est souvent de se tourner vers le pass\u00e9 pour y trouver des situations similaires ou comparables ?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 Qu\u2019est-ce que la pand\u00e9mie r\u00e9v\u00e8le sur la nature de nos soci\u00e9t\u00e9s contemporaines ?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alexandre Klein,<\/a> <\/strong>historien et philosophe de la m\u00e9decine \u00e0 l\u2019universit\u00e9 d\u2019Ottawa propose une analyse \u00e9clairante du coronavirus au prisme de la pens\u00e9e du philosophe Gilles Deleuze. Il montre notamment que la pand\u00e9mie actuelle est la premi\u00e8re \u00e0 survenir au sein de \u00ab soci\u00e9t\u00e9s de contr\u00f4le \u00bb (concept deleuzien) bien diff\u00e9rentes des \u00ab soci\u00e9t\u00e9s disciplinaires \u00bb classiques d\u00e9crites par Michel Foucault :<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00ab Aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s disciplinaires organis\u00e9es autour des institutions d\u2019enfermement (usines, h\u00f4pitaux, \u00e9coles, prisons), que Michel Foucault avait d\u00e9crites une d\u00e9cennie auparavant, succ\u00e9daient ainsi des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s plus fluides, ne passant \u201c\u00e9videmment plus par des milieux d\u2019enfermement\u201d, mais par une s\u00e9rie de dispositifs, souvent technologiques, de contr\u00f4le<\/em>. \u00bb <\/p>\n\n\n\n

LIRE<\/strong> : Alexandre Klein, Une \u00e9pid\u00e9mie du contr\u00f4le, HistoireEngagee.ca, 8\/04\/2020<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Guillaume Lachenal<\/a><\/strong>,<\/a> historien de la m\u00e9decine en Afrique coloniale et contemporaine, ma\u00eetre de conf\u00e9rences \u00e0 l\u2019universit\u00e9 Paris Diderot et membre du laboratoire Sph\u00e8re, est interrog\u00e9 sur France Culture<\/em> sur la pertinence de la comparaison avec les \u00e9pid\u00e9mies du pass\u00e9. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Dans le premier document sonore, G. Lachenal r\u00e9fl\u00e9chit aux points de divergences profondes (cadres sociaux, mentaux et scientifiques tr\u00e8s diff\u00e9rents d\u2019une \u00e9poque \u00e0 l\u2019autre ; diff\u00e9rences biologiques : nous n\u2019avons pas les m\u00eames corps qu\u2019au Moyen Age, par exemple ; rapports diff\u00e9rents \u00e0 la m\u00e9decine et aux m\u00e9decins ; etc.) et aux points de convergences (rumeurs ; r\u00e9actions de fuite ; recherches de boucs \u00e9missaires ; cr\u00e9ation de  \u00ab r\u00e9cits \u00e9pid\u00e9miques \u00bb comme les appelait l\u2019historien Charles Rosenberg ; capacit\u00e9s d\u2019invention des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s humaines ; etc.). Il \u00e9voque aussi l\u2019historien Marc Bloch et la sid\u00e9ration qui nous saisit collectivement pour penser le pr\u00e9sent, et met en garde contre un repli sur le pass\u00e9 et sur le comparatisme \u00e0 tous prix avec la situation pr\u00e9sente.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00c9COUTER<\/strong> : 1er podcast: France Culture, “Que valent les comparaisons avec les \u00e9pid\u00e9mies du pass\u00e9 ?”<\/a>, 14\/04\/2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00c9COUTER : <\/strong>un deuxi\u00e8me podcast prolonge cette r\u00e9flexion de fond sur le rapport des historiens au Covid-19 : Paroles d’histoires, “100.Le coronavirus, perspectives historiques, avec Guillaume Lachenal”,<\/a>25\/03\/2020<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Exceptionally, we propose here two contributions in French, which are also an invitation to take a step out of the Southern African situation for a while. These contributions revolve around the following questions: \u2014 Can we use history to understand the current Covid-19 epidemic? \u2014 How can historians think what is new, unprecedented, when their disciplinary reflex […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5000,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,21,32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-news","category-social-scientists-views-on-covid-19"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ifas.org.za\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ifas.org.za\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ifas.org.za\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ifas.org.za\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ifas.org.za\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4985"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/www.ifas.org.za\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4985\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5019,"href":"https:\/\/www.ifas.org.za\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4985\/revisions\/5019"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ifas.org.za\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5000"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ifas.org.za\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ifas.org.za\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ifas.org.za\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}