Book Reviews by Aaron Mallari
When a society is faced with a contagion, the sense of disarray, panic, and confusion stains the ... more When a society is faced with a contagion, the sense of disarray, panic, and confusion stains the social fabric. Similarly, although in different terms, when crime occurs and becomes rampant, a sense of hysteria can also rupture social life. When either of these two phenomena envelops society, the insecurity it brings demands immediate action to restore equilibrium. It is thus not surprising that the ways we make sense of these events have caught the interest of academics, especially those working in the fields of history and the social sciences. Separately, the writing of the history of diseases (a theme in the field of history of medicine) as they are experienced across time and that of the history of criminality are already daunting tasks on their own, requiring one to harness perspectives from various fields. In the former, one has to contend with the challenge of bridging the fields of medicine and history to make sense of the impact of disease on the micro and macro levels. For the latter, one has to make sense of a phenomenon that brings together aspects of law, social psychology, and sociology, to name a few. The two fields, however, also have similarities. Both themes grapple with events that involve state-society relations; and both, in varying degrees, deal with discourses of how the sick and sickness, as well as the criminal and criminality, are defined and dealt with in different contexts. When carried out, the writing of such narratives could yield data that could help form theoretical perspectives that hopefully, could enrich our understanding of societies throughout history. As disease and crime present dilemmas worthy of scholarly pursuits, what happens then when these two become conflated either in the discursive level or in both the discursive level and lived experience? This is one of the broad questions that Robert Peckham's edited compendium Disease and Crime: A History of social pathologies and the new politics of health, tries to unpack.
Transnational and global histories are continuously evolving fields. In this line of historical i... more Transnational and global histories are continuously evolving fields. In this line of historical inquiry, interconnections and networks are highlighted, and porous boundaries are crossed. Although truly enriching, the task of weaving transnational histories is still daunting especially when nations and identities are still projects being pursued (in varying degrees of vigor)-even more pronounced in postcolonial conditions and locations. Moreover, challenges of representation, power, and authority also come into play.
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Book Reviews by Aaron Mallari