The SHAPES of Epidemics and Global Disease review

Abstract

We do not exist in isolation. The diseases epidemiologists investigate do not exist in isolation, and the same is true of approaches to fighting those diseases. The SHAPES of Epidemics and Global Disease1 is all about interconnectedness. SHAPES stands for socio-historical, artistic, political and ecological significance, and the book is written by 17 scholars, from 15 disciplines. However, a peculiar omission in this book about epidemics is the absence of an epidemiologist among the contributing authors. Public health professionals generally focus on populations, rather than the experience of individuals. Variables such as ‘race’ or sexual identity are applied en masse to public health efforts to maximize benefits of an intervention or policy. The authors of this book take a different tack and explore ‘non-traditional’ routes to disease control, using insights from the arts, politics and philosophy. Indeed, the authors beautifully weave art and literature into their descriptions of response to global epidemics. Art and literature have often been used as therapy but less commonly applied as a means of investigating causes of disease and their control. The authors illustrate, as an example, how literature was used to justify segregation of populations (e.g. leper colonies in Japan).