Native Society and Disease in Colonial Ecuador

by Suzanne Austin Alchon

Overview

This book examines the relationship between indigenous populations in the north-central highlands of Ecuador and disease, especially those infections introduced by Europeans during the sixteenth century. Disease, of course, existed in the Americas long before 1500. But just as native societies resisted and eventually adapted to European conquest, so too did they adapt to Old World pathogens. Just as the responses of Indian communities to the economic and political demands of Spaniards varied over time, so too did the immunological responses of indigenous populations change over generations. What began in the sixteenth century as contact and invasion soon would involve both Indians and Europeans in a new history of biological, as well as social, adaptation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521401869
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	01/31/1992
Series:	Cambridge Latin American Studies , #71
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	168
Product dimensions:	6.18(w) x 9.37(h) x 0.59(d)

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments; Introduction; 1. Along the avenue of volcanoes; 2. Disease, illness, and healing before 1534; 3. Conquest and epidemic disease; 4. Changing patterns of disease and demography; 5. Disaster and crisis in the 1690s; 6. Disease and demographic stagnation; Conclusion; Glossary; Bibliography; Index.

Editorial Reviews

"This book is an achievement for several reasons. First, it offers a panoramic view of about three centuries of demographic developments in colonial Ecuador. Second, it frames the discussion of Ecuador with what is known about Mesoamerica and the Andes. Third, it studies epidemics in their interaction with economic, religious, and political events. And fourth, it is a remarkable effort to intertwine the history of populations with the history of medicine in a Latin American country....The book includes superb descriptions of colonial hospitals and public health measures, and native concepts of health and illness....this well-documented and well-organized book is certainly instrumental in raising the standards of Latin American medical history." Marcos Cueto, Bulletin of the History of Medicine

"...a well-documented case study of European-introduced disease and its demographic consequences in colonial Latin America. Researchers will find the work a particularly valuable source of insights into Old World diseases and their demographic consequences for Native America." Daniel Reff, EthnoHistory

"...contains a great deal of useful information and implications for further research on the connections between biological and sociopolitical transformations." Susan M. Deeds, Colonial Latin American Review

"This slender book is packed with information on the history of disease in colonal Ecuador....Native Society and Disease in Colonial Ecuador is a clearly written and thoughtful study of health and disease in a critical period of Latin American history....Alchon does an admirable job of sifting through the material and explaining her interpretatons of the data....This book should find an audience among scholars who are concerned with the Spanish colonial period or who wish to understand how the events of that time have influenced today's Andean reality. As a study of epidemiological and cultural history, it should also be of interest to readers with backgrounds in medicine and allied fields of study. In addition, the book merits consideration for use as a case study in Latin America and medical anthropology courses." William T. Vickers, Medical Anthropology Quarterly

From the Publisher