The Political Life of an Epidemic
Cholera, Crisis and Citizenship in Zimbabwe

Reveals how the crisis of Zimbabwe's cholera outbreak of 2008–9 had profound implications for political institutions and citizenship.

Simukai Chigudu (Author)

9781108733441, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 25 November 2021

250 pages
22.7 x 15.2 x 1.4 cm, 0.362 kg

'Chigudu's dissection of the historical, political and economic dimensions of a Zimbabwean public health crisis is clinical in its precision and profoundly disturbing. It is a devastating account of an epidemic, a sophisticated analysis of the political economy of Zimbabwe and of the shortcomings of international humanitarian aid.' Megan Vaughan, University College London

Zimbabwe's catastrophic cholera outbreak of 2008–9 saw an unprecedented number of people affected, with 100,000 cases and nearly 5,000 deaths. Cholera, however, was much more than a public health crisis: it represented the nadir of the country's deepening political and economic crisis of 2008. This study focuses on the political life of the cholera epidemic, tracing the historical origins of the outbreak, examining the social pattern of its unfolding and impact, analysing the institutional and communal responses to the disease, and marking the effects of its aftermath. Across different social and institutional settings, competing interpretations and experiences of the cholera epidemic created charged social and political debates. In his examination of these debates which surrounded the breakdown of Zimbabwe's public health infrastructure and failing bureaucratic order, the scope and limitations of disaster relief, and the country's profound levels of livelihood poverty and social inequality, Simukai Chigudu reveals how this epidemic of a preventable disease had profound implications for political institutions and citizenship in Zimbabwe.

Introduction. Stories and politics of cholera
1. The making of urban (dis)order: situating the cholera outbreak in historical perspective
2. 'When people eat shit': cholera and the collapse of Zimbabwe's public health infrastructure
3. Emergency politics: cholera as a national disaster
4. The salvation agenda: medical humanitarianism and the response to cholera
5. 'People were dying like flies': the social contours of cholera in Harare's high-density townships
Conclusion. More to admire than despise?

Subject Areas: Politics & government [JP], 21st century history: from c 2000 - [HBLX], African history [HBJH]