We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
The Great Pox, Symptoms, and Social Bodies in Early Modern Spain.
- Authors
Berco, Cristian
- Abstract
The Great Pox marked the early modern era. Not only did this chronic disease lead to long-term shifts in medical knowledge, but it also reached across the social spectrum to touch individuals, families, and communities of all guises. As such, pox infection reflected the complexity of managing symptoms that were at once medically and socially evaluated. This article explores the social and cultural meanings attached to the poxed body through an analysis of Spanish medical, literary, and patient sources. How was the poxed body understood in everyday contexts? How did social concerns affect medical discourse on the disease? What strategies did the ill use to navigate the socially-charged repercussions of visible symptoms? Ultimately, patients developed techniques of obfuscation and ambivalence to manage the social framing of their diseased bodies evident in medical and popular literature.
- Subjects
SPAIN; HISTORY of public health; POXVIRUS diseases; HISTORY of diseases; MEDICAL care; SPANISH history; HUMAN body &; society
- Publication
Social History of Medicine, 2015, Vol 28, Issue 2, p225
- ISSN
0951-631X
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1093/shm/hku097