Special Issue Editors

Dr. Patrick Devlieger

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
Interests: social and cultural anthropology; social history; material contexts of people with disabilities; ethnography

Dr. Jack Menke

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Anton de Kom University of Surinam, Leysweg 86, Tammenga, Suriname
Interests: social sciences in a multi-ethnic society; research methodology; social heritage of Hansen Disease settlements

Prof. Dr. Jane Buckingham

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies, University of Canterbury, 20 Kirkwood Avenue, Upper Riccarton, Christchurch 8041, New Zealand
Interests: the history of medicine, health, civil and criminal law and disability; history of mission, especially medical missionaries; history of welfare, charity, and philanthropy. Also, Indian history, particularly early colonial South India and early colonial state formation, and Pacific history, particularly history of health and medicine

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This special issue focuses on contemporary issues of memory, activism, and curatorship of Hansen Disease settlements. The topic of Hansen Disease or leprosy brings to the Journal the memory and legacy of Hansen Disease settlements which were established in the 19th century in many places around the world. These settlements of another time bring to contrast the contemporary treatment and surveillance of people who have Hansen Disease. The focus of the issue is to bring to light that memory, activism, and curatorship are enduring processes that shape our understanding of the past and the future. We ask for contributions which engaged with the following topics: 1. the memory of natural and human resources that brings out the local and regional ways in which Hansen Disease settlements organized regimes of segregation and isolation and the future of dealing with Hansen Disease settlements. 2. Secular activism, religious humanitarianism (and beyond): postcolonial perspectives. 3. Curatorship: The future of Leprosy Settlement/Museums in any part of the world. This Special Issue welcomes all scholars’ original articles that focus on these topics.

Dr. Patrick Devlieger
Dr. Jack Menke
Prof. Jane Buckingham
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as conceptual papers are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Societies is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

Hansen Disease settlements
memory
activism
curatorship

Published Papers (2 papers)

Download All Papers

Research

Jump to: Other

17 pages, 284 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Islam, Leprosy, and Disability: How Religion, History, Art, and Storytelling Can Yield New Insights and Acceptance

by Rooshey Hasnain, Jon Queijo, Suheil Laher and Carrie Sandahl

Societies 2020, 10(1), 6; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/soc10010006 - 25 Dec 2019

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 13997

Abstract

Age-old fears and misconceptions about leprosy have flourished for centuries and the condition remains both a socially stigmatizing issue and a public health problem in many parts of the globe. In the context of Islam, only a few personal narratives by Muslims living with leprosy exist, and no one has systematically reviewed accounts of leprosy related disability from early or recent Islamic history, including the Prophet Muhammad’s interactions with individuals living with leprosy. In this article, we present previously untold stories about leprosy, from both English and Arabic sources strongly rooted in Islamic values and principles. After an introduction and brief history of Islam, this article is divided into three main sections: (1) The foundations of early Islamic values about illness, leprosy, and disability; (2) Leprosy and stigma in Islamic communities and/or places; and (3) Art, storytelling, and other expressions by people living with leprosy in various parts of the world. The authors also discuss some of the challenges of defining leprosy terminology based on early historic documents. The overall purpose of this article is to describe historical and religious accounts of leprosy and amplify the collective voices and experiences of Muslims who live with leprosy from a disability studies frame. The authors also introduce the ‘House is Black’, a short documentary that illustrates additional insights and commentary related to disability related leprosy. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Future of Hansen Disease Settlements: Social Memory, Activism and Curatorship)

Other

Jump to: Research

22 pages, 1755 KiB

Open AccessConcept Paper

How Colonial Power, Colonized People, and Nature Shaped Hansen’s Disease Settlements in Suriname

by Henk Menke, Toine Pieters and Jack Menke

Societies 2020, 10(2), 32; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/soc10020032 - 01 Apr 2020

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 5063

Abstract

According to the Dutch colonizers in Suriname, leprosy (or Hansen’s disease) was highly contagious and transmitted from human-to-human. A “cordon sanitaire” was constructed around the patients, mainly African slaves and Asian indentured laborers and their descendants. They were tracked down and incarcerated in remote leprosy settlements located in the rainforest. Some patients obeyed the authorities while others resisted and rebelled. Their narratives, revealing conceptual entanglement of the disease with their culture and the Surinamese natural environment, contain important information for understanding their world and their life inside and outside of leprosy settlements. They combined traditional health practices and medicinal plants from their natural habitat with biomedical treatments (practicing medical pluralism). They believed in a diversity of disease explanations, predominantly the taboo concepts treef, tyina, and totem animals associated with their natural habitat (the Surinamese biome). Some of their imaginary explanations (e.g., “leprosy is carried and/or transmitted through soil and certain animals”) show a surprising analogy with recent findings from leprosy scientists. Our research shows that nature contributes to shaping the world of Hansen’s disease patients. An ecological approach can make a valuable contribution to understanding their world. Comparative historical and anthropological research needs to be conducted to map the influence of different biomes on local explanatory models. The now deserted Hansen’s disease settlements and their natural environments are interesting research sites and important places of cultural heritage. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Future of Hansen Disease Settlements: Social Memory, Activism and Curatorship)

► Show Figures