THIS EVENT IS POSTPONED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE - 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 seminar 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.
This discussion will be followed by a Q&A.
About the Speaker:
Simukai Chigudu (@simuchigudu) is an Associate Professor of African Politics at the University of Oxford, and Fellow of St Antony’s College, Oxford. He was awarded the biennial Audrey Richards Prize for the best doctoral thesis in African Studies examined at a UK university. He is the author of several articles in leading academic journals including African Affairs, Critical African Studies, and Health Policy and Planning. He worked as a medical doctor before moving into academia.
About the Chair:
Ernestina Coast (@eecoast) is Professor of Health and International Development in the Deptartment of International Development. Her research is multidisciplinary and positioned at an intersection of social science approaches including health, gender and development. As a social scientist with training in demography and anthropology, her research uses mixed methods (quantitative and qualitative) to understand the inter-relationships between social context and health-related behaviours, with a focus on sexual and reproductive health. She is the Principal Investigator of “Improving adolescent access to contraception and safe abortion in sub-Saharan Africa” and is the thematic lead for sexual and reproductive health on “Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence”.
This seminar is part of the Global Health Initiative Seminar Series.
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