More Than a Health Crisis

How the West African Ebola epidemic was transformed from an urgent and distant tragedy into an existential threat to American lives—establishing the dynamics that would later dominate the US response to epidemics such as COVID-19.In 2014 and 2015, the viral Ebola epidemic in West Africa inspired bre...

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Hoofdauteur: Kirk, Jessica
Formaat: Online
Taal:Engels
Gepubliceerd in: The MIT Press 2024
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Online toegang:ONIX_20241025_9780262374859_67
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author Kirk, Jessica
author_browse Kirk, Jessica
author_facet Kirk, Jessica
author_sort Kirk, Jessica
collection Directory of Open Access Books
description How the West African Ebola epidemic was transformed from an urgent and distant tragedy into an existential threat to American lives—establishing the dynamics that would later dominate the US response to epidemics such as COVID-19.In 2014 and 2015, the viral Ebola epidemic in West Africa inspired breathless US media coverage and became the subject of heated public debate over just how to understand the security issue that the outbreak presented. Was it a security concern because of the lives at risk in West Africa? Or because of its threat to regional and global stability? Or was it potentially a threat to the American people? In More Than a Health Crisis, Jessica Kirkreveals how these varied positions spoke to divisions within the American public, concerning how we think about and respond to uncertainty, competing expertise, and securitization.Kirk insightfully examines how experts in different fields offered conflicting assessments of the risks posed by Ebola, and then goes on to analyze how the US press undermined the authority of the public health experts who accurately predicted that the virus posed little danger to Americans. Reading the media coverage of the Ebola epidemic as a case study in the biopolitics of fear, Kirk considers how the US response reflected not only anxieties over globalization but also long-held narratives about the “Dark Continent.” Finally, Kirk shows how the US and global public response to the Ebola outbreak challenged traditional models of securitization and identifies patterns that have tragically recurred with subsequent epidemics such as COVID-19 and monkeypox.
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spelling doab-20.500.12854ir-1466892024-10-25T13:16:59Z More Than a Health Crisis Kirk, Jessica Ebola global health global health security securitization health politics health security disease outbreaks US politics thema EDItEUR::M Medicine and Nursing::MB Medicine: general issues::MBN Public health and preventive medicine::MBNH Personal and public health / health education::MBNH2 Environmental factors thema EDItEUR::M Medicine and Nursing::MB Medicine: general issues::MBN Public health and preventive medicine How the West African Ebola epidemic was transformed from an urgent and distant tragedy into an existential threat to American lives—establishing the dynamics that would later dominate the US response to epidemics such as COVID-19.In 2014 and 2015, the viral Ebola epidemic in West Africa inspired breathless US media coverage and became the subject of heated public debate over just how to understand the security issue that the outbreak presented. Was it a security concern because of the lives at risk in West Africa? Or because of its threat to regional and global stability? Or was it potentially a threat to the American people? In More Than a Health Crisis, Jessica Kirkreveals how these varied positions spoke to divisions within the American public, concerning how we think about and respond to uncertainty, competing expertise, and securitization.Kirk insightfully examines how experts in different fields offered conflicting assessments of the risks posed by Ebola, and then goes on to analyze how the US press undermined the authority of the public health experts who accurately predicted that the virus posed little danger to Americans. Reading the media coverage of the Ebola epidemic as a case study in the biopolitics of fear, Kirk considers how the US response reflected not only anxieties over globalization but also long-held narratives about the “Dark Continent.” Finally, Kirk shows how the US and global public response to the Ebola outbreak challenged traditional models of securitization and identifies patterns that have tragically recurred with subsequent epidemics such as COVID-19 and monkeypox. 2024-10-25T13:16:57Z 2024-10-25T13:16:57Z 2023 book ONIX_20241025_9780262374859_67 9780262374859 9780262545693 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/146689 eng The MIT Press image/jpeg n/a https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/14829.001.0001 The MIT Press The MIT Press 10.7551/mitpress/14829.001.0001 10.7551/mitpress/14829.001.0001 ae0cf962-f685-4933-93d1-916defa5123d 9780262374859 9780262545693 The MIT Press 240 Cambridge open access
spellingShingle Ebola
global health
global health security
securitization
health politics
health security
disease outbreaks
US politics
thema EDItEUR::M Medicine and Nursing::MB Medicine: general issues::MBN Public health and preventive medicine::MBNH Personal and public health / health education::MBNH2 Environmental factors
thema EDItEUR::M Medicine and Nursing::MB Medicine: general issues::MBN Public health and preventive medicine
Kirk, Jessica
More Than a Health Crisis
title More Than a Health Crisis
title_full More Than a Health Crisis
title_fullStr More Than a Health Crisis
title_full_unstemmed More Than a Health Crisis
title_short More Than a Health Crisis
title_sort more than a health crisis
topic Ebola
global health
global health security
securitization
health politics
health security
disease outbreaks
US politics
thema EDItEUR::M Medicine and Nursing::MB Medicine: general issues::MBN Public health and preventive medicine::MBNH Personal and public health / health education::MBNH2 Environmental factors
thema EDItEUR::M Medicine and Nursing::MB Medicine: general issues::MBN Public health and preventive medicine
topic_facet Ebola
global health
global health security
securitization
health politics
health security
disease outbreaks
US politics
thema EDItEUR::M Medicine and Nursing::MB Medicine: general issues::MBN Public health and preventive medicine::MBNH Personal and public health / health education::MBNH2 Environmental factors
thema EDItEUR::M Medicine and Nursing::MB Medicine: general issues::MBN Public health and preventive medicine
url ONIX_20241025_9780262374859_67
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