A Crouching Village

Ebola and the Empty Gestures of Quarantine in Monrovia

Bibliographic Data

ID2262905
AuthorsDanny Hoffman (University of Washington)
Year2016
Volume28
Issue2
Pages246-264
Publication date2016-08-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueCity & Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0893-0465 • E-ISSN: 1548-744X
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/ciso.12083
OpenAlexW2485762896
LanguageEN
Citations received23
References cited26

In its scale, its virulence, and, most significantly, its urbanity, the 2014-2015 outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD or simply Ebola) in the Mano River region of West Africa seemed to challenge the basic tools of modern public health. As a result, the government of Liberia took the extraordinary step of implementing a cordon sanitaire around one of the poorest neighborhoods in the capital city, Monrovia. Observers labeled both the quarantine and the ensuing riots as barbaric acts not seen since the plagues of the Middle Ages. This characterization masked the real history of racial separation that defines many African cities, and cast Monrovia's poorest residents as morally bankrupt, primitive savages. In this article I instead explore the quarantine as an instance of the repetition of a familiar urban form, and read the ensuing violence in Monrovia's West Point neighborhood not as an ethical problem but as an "empty" political gesture. [Liberia; Ebola; Quarantine; Urban Planning; Urban Violence; Monrovia

Anthropological Studies and Insights · Global Security and Public Health · South Asian Studies and Conflicts