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Kolonialherrschaft, Pocken und Emotionen im bourbonischen Oaxaca

    Martin Gabriel

VIRUS Band 22, pp. 173-184, 2023/12/28

Schwerpunkt: Epidemie und Emotion

doi: 10.1553/virus22s173

doi: 10.1553/virus22s173


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doi:10.1553/virus22



doi:10.1553/virus22s173



doi:10.1553/virus22s173

Abstract

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.

Keywords: Colonialism, emotions, epidemics, inoculation, New Spain, smallpox, 18th century