Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION
CONTAGION: ITS HISTORY AND SOME HISTORIOGRAPHICAL EXAMPLES FROM ANTIQUITY TO TODAY 1
ALUMINUM
THE HYPOTHESIS OF AN ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE EPIDEMIC? 19
ANALOGY
MINIATURIZATION, MULTIPLICATION, AND FIGURATION IN MEDIEVAL CHRISTENDOM 25
ANTI-SEMITISM
ANTI-SEMITISM AS A DISEASE: THE HISTORY AND SIGNIFICANCE OF A METAPHOR 33
ARISTOCRACY
TAINTED BLOOD AND ARISTOCRATIC VALUES IN EARLY MODERN SPAIN 39
BELIEF
LIBERTINISM AND ATHEISM (SIXTEENTH TO EIGHTEENTH CENTURY) 45
CALENDAR
CIRCULATION AND MISUSE OF A MEDIEVAL ICONOGRAPHICAL MODEL 51
CARTOGRAPHY
JOHN SNOW AND THE TOPOGRAPHY OF CHOLERA 57
CLOTHING
MEDIEVAL SUMPTUARY LAWS AS MEASURES OF SOCIAL CONTAINMENT? 65
COLONIZATION
SOCIAL CONTAGION AS A CIVILIZING TOOL 71
CONSUMPTION
ADDICTION TO GEOPHAGY DURING THE GOLDEN AGE OF THE SPANISH EMPIRE 77
CONTROVERSY
PROPAGATION OF THE QUARREL BETWEEN RABBIS JACOB EMDEN AND JONATHAN EYBESCHUTZ 83
CROWD
GUSTAVE LE BON, SIGMUND FREUD, GABRIEL TARDE BETWEEN SUGGESTION AND CONTAGION 89
DANCE
WALTZMANIA IN THE PARIS PLEASURE GARDENS 95
EPIDEMIC
BOVINE TUBERCULOSIS IN FRANCE AND THE UNITED KINGDOM (NINETEENTH CENTURY): FROM THE MIASMA TO THE MICROBE 103
EX-VOTO
VOTIVE AND POLITICAL ACCUMULATIONS IN THE PUBLIC SPACE 107
HERESY
FIGHTING THE CRYPTO-PROTESTANT “INFESTATION” UNDER THE HABSBURG MONARCHY 115
ICONOGRAPHY
DYNAMICS OF INNOVATION AT WORK IN THE REPRESENTATION OF THE HELLMOUTH 121
INNOVATION
ORGAN BUILDING AND DIPLOMATIC EXCHANGES IN THE RENAISSANCE 129
JUDEITY
IDENTITY AND OTHERNESS: JEWS IN FRANCE CIRCA 1900 135
LANGUAGES
HYBRID LANGUAGES OR “IMPURE” LANGUAGES? FROM HISPERIC LATIN TO ARABO-LATIN (SIXTH
TO FIFTEENTH CENTURY) 141
LITERATURE
THE MISDEEDS OF READING UPON SENSITIVE IMAGINATIONS 147
LUXURY
“HOLDING INDIA IN THEIR HANDS”: INFLUX OF WEALTH INTO REPUBLICAN AND IMPERIAL ROME 153
MANUSCRIPTS
EXEMPLA AND THE FREEDOM OF COPYISTS AT THE END OF THE MIDDLE AGES 159
MICROBES
UNDERSTANDINGS OF DISEASE TRANSMISSION IN THE WESTERN WORLD (FIFTEENTH TO TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY) 165
MIGRATION
MIGRATION NETWORKS: MAPPING AND THEORIZING MOBILITY 171
MYTH
THE NEANDERTHAL JEW: A STRUCTURE THAT GIVES MEANING TO THE SUBJUGATION OF THE OTHER 177
NAMING
LINEAGES OF CHOICE AMONG THE ARTISTS OF THE RENAISSANCE 183
NUCLEAR
VISUALIZING THE NUCLEAR CONTAMINATION OF THE PLANET DURING THE COLD WAR 189
PLAGUE
PROCESSIONS AT BEAUNE AMID THE WARS OF RELIGION: A WORD AGAINST WHICH EVIL? 195
POLLUTION
THE CHEMICAL INDUSTRY: A BARRICADE AGAINST INFECTION (1770–1830) 201
PRISON
“PRISON IS A SCHOOL OF CRIME”: PROSELYTISM IN THE JAILS OF THE ANCIEN RÉGIME 207
PROGRESS
THE BATTLE OF WHEAT: AN IDEOLOGICAL TOOL FOR FASCIST ITALY 213
PROPHYLAXIS
SINGING TO THE VIRGIN FOR PROTECTION FROM THE PLAGUE 219
RACE
THE DISCOURSE ON “BLOOD CONTAMINATION” IN COLONIAL BRITAIN 225
RED GUARDS
AUGUST 1966: SOCIAL AND IDEOLOGICAL VIOLENCE IN MAO’S CHINA 231
RELICS
CONTAGIOUS VIRTUE OF SACRED BODIES 237
REVOLUTION
THE “FRENCH CONTAGION” AND “JEWISH JACOBINERY” IN THE WRITINGS OF ITALIAN ANTIREVOLUTIONARIES 243
RITUAL
EMERGENCE OF MEANING IN MEDIEVAL LITURGY 249
SANCTITY
ROSELINE DE VILLENEUVE OR THE “INVISIBLE ACTION OF THE SPIRIT” 259
SMALLPOX
INOCULATION OR QUARANTINE? A SCIENTIFIC DEBATE IN EUROPE DURING THE ENLIGHTENMENT 265
SOLITUDE
THE RIGHT TO LIVE ALONE: A DIFFICULT PATH TO ACCEPTANCE IN CONTEMPORARY SOCIETIES 271
SPIRITUALITY
CONTAMINATED AND CONTAGIOUS PASSIONS: FROM DEVOUT ECSTASY TO DEMONIC POSSESSION 277
SUICIDE
MORAL CONTAGION VERSUS SOCIAL EPIDEMIC IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF ÉMILE DURKHEIM’S SOCIOLOGY 283
SWAMPS
DRYING FEVER IN MODERN EUROPE 289
THEATER
FROM POISON TO PATRIOTIC ELECTRICITY: EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY CONCEPTIONS OF THE SPECTACLE 295
TRADITION
ANCIENT WRITINGS AND POLITICAL LEGITIMATION IN CHINA AT THE BEGINNING OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 301
TRANSNATIONALISM
MIGRATION FEVER AND THE STUDY OF MOBILITY 307
VOGUE
THE LAMBETH WALK AND THE “FOLKLORIZATION” OF COCKNEY CULTURE IN 1930s GREAT BRITAIN 313
WRITING
TEXTUAL RESEMBLANCE AS A HISTORICAL OBJECT 321
YAWNING
WHY IS YAWNING CATCHING? FOURTEENTHCENTURY MEDICINE AND NATURAL PHILOSOPHY 327
AFTERWORD
CONTAGIONS, IDEOLOGIES, ECONOMIES: THOUGHTS IN THE TIME OF COVID-19 333
Acknowledgments 339
Contributors 341

About the Author

Beatrice Delaurenti is Associate Professor in History at the School for Advanced Studies in Social Sciences (EHESS, cole des Hautes tudes en Sciences Sociales), Paris. Thomas Le Roux is Associate Professor of Research in History at the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) and coauthor (with Fran ois Jarrige) of The Contamination of the Earth (MIT Press). Delaurenti and Le Roux are Directors of the Center for Historical Research (CRH, Centre de recherches historiques) of the EHESS.