@article{276215c2a4bd434883df2dd0ee332a24,
title = "Zoonotic Semiotics: Plague Narratives and Vanishing Signs in Madagascar",
abstract = "Zoonosis calls for a multispecies approach to medical semiotics, a method involving the decipherment of outward symptoms and the construction of narrative. In Madagascar, early detection of bubonic plague outbreaks relies on sightings of sick and dead rats. However, people most vulnerable to plague often do not perceive warning signs, and plague symptoms do not always present in rat and human bodies. In August 2015, a plague outbreak killed 10 residents of a rural hamlet in the central highlands. To reconstruct the transmission chain, scientists elicited survivors{\textquoteright} memories of dead rats in the vicinity. Not only were these clues imperceptible to most, but residents had also constructed an alternative outbreak narrative based on different evidence. Stark health disparities, a lack of historical memory of the plague, and genetic adaptations of rats and plague bacteria have created a problem of “semiotic cluelessness” that complicates outbreak control measures and increases mortality.",
keywords = "Madagascar, multispecies ethnography, outbreak narrative, plague, zoonosis",
author = "Sodikoff, {Genese Marie}",
note = "Funding Information: This research was generously supported by a New Directions Fellowship of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. In Madagascar, I am deeply indebted to my collaborator Dieudonn{\'e} Rasolonomenjanahary of the Pasteur Institute of Madagascar at Moramanga. I am also grateful for the insights and collaboration of Drs. Minoarisoa Rajerison and Beza Ramasindrazana of the Pasteur Institute of Madagascar in Antananarivo, and for the diligent work of my research assistants, Solohery Lalaina Razafimahatratra and Anie Lanjaniaina. And I thank Alex Nading and Hannah Brown for their guidance on drafts of this article, as well as for convening a provocative workshop on Human–Animal Health at Durham University in March 2017. Christos Lynteris has been a generous source of plague information. Finally, I am very grateful to the two anonymous reviewers and Vincanne Adams for their incisive critiques and suggestions. Funding Information: Acknowledgments. This research was generously supported by a New Directions Fellowship of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. In Madagascar, I am deeply indebted to my collaborator Dieudonn{\'e} Rasolonomenjanahary of the Pasteur Institute of Madagascar at Moramanga. I am also grateful for the insights and collaboration of Drs. Minoarisoa Rajerison and Beza Ramasindrazana of the Pasteur Institute of Madagascar in Antananarivo, and for the diligent work of my research assistants, Solohery Lalaina Razafimahatratra and Anie Lanjaniaina. And I thank Alex Nading and Hannah Brown for their guidance on drafts of this article, as well as for convening a provocative workshop on Human–Animal Health at Durham University in March 2017. Christos Lynteris has been a generous source of plague information. Finally, I am very grateful to the two anonymous reviewers and Vincanne Adams for their incisive critiques and suggestions. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2019 by the American Anthropological Association",
year = "2019",
month = mar,
doi = "10.1111/maq.12487",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "33",
pages = "42--59",
journal = "Medical Anthropology Quarterly",
issn = "0745-5194",
publisher = "Wiley-Blackwell",
number = "1",
}