Kolonialherrschaft, Pocken und Emotionen im bourbonischen Oaxaca. VIRUS - Beiträge zur Sozialgeschichte der Medizin|VIRUS. Beiträge zur Sozialgeschichte der Medizin Band 22 Schwerpunkt: Epidemie und Emotion|

Résumé 0

In 1796/1797, Oaxaca (New Spain) was once again hit by a smallpox epidemic. Authorities implemented an anti-contagion regime that included bans on private travel or quarantine of communities. Almost two decades earlier, Guatemalan administrators had fought smallpox by introducing an inoculation strategy. Differing from measures in Guatemala, Oaxacan policies still drew from a “modernist” approach to hygiene and public order. The state aimed at strengthening its position by transforming traditional structures or healthcare practices, but many inhabitants, male and female, resisted. While some criticized orders as being detrimental to the export economy, other elements of resistance were characterized as “emotional”. Mothers wanted to care for their offspring instead of leaving them in the care of administrators. Clerics, building on traditions of Marian devotion, supported the women. In the end, however, indigenous resistance should not be understood as irrational defiance against new medical practices, but rather as a trial in self-determination.