Since 1990s the narratives of outbreak, such as Ebola virus, have frequently appeared in the field of journalism, fictions, nonfictions, and films in the United States. This phenomenon is noteworthy, particularly after the outbreak of HIV/AIDS and subsequent paranoia. The Americans' faith in science, especially medical science, collapsed in the aftermath of AIDS outbreak. The outbreak narratives reflect the anxiety of the Americans as well as their desire to rehabilitate their faith in medical science.The discourses on epidemics, which had been quiescent since 1950s, have been erupting along with the heightened interest in emerging infections. The microbes who know no national boundaries travel around the world more easily as the globalization becomes accelerated. In tracing the trajectories of the epidemics and the microbes, the narratives of outbreak make it visible as to who meets whom and what kinds of social contacts are formed along the invisible communities.Benedict Anderson's idea of 'imagined communities' can be a useful tool in understanding the outbreak narratives. Anderson argues that the nation is an imagined community which exists only in the people's mind as an image of communion, even though each member of the nation does not know each other. In a similar way, the narratives of outbreak implant memories of epidemics inside the imagined communities.The outbreak narratives reveal the paradox of conflicting pulls of nationalism and globalization. If the members of the communities are strongly united in the face of the impending catastrophe, the ambiguous concept of imagined communities can be easily dissolved in the globalized realities of the world. The members of the nation can profit in accordance with their intensity of their belongings. In that sense, the stranger/carrier is an indispensible agent in bringing forth the health and growth of the communities. As a vector for carrying unfamiliar microbes and genes, the stranger/carrier shows how the communities are being integrated and reshaped in spite of the sacrifice of their members.
목차
Ⅰ Ⅱ Ⅲ Ⅳ 인용문헌 [Abstract]
키워드
narratives of outbreakimagined communitiesemerging infectionherd immunitystrangercarrier
저자
최정민 [ Choi, Jung-Min | 육군사관학교(Korea Military Academy) ]
국제언어인문학회 [INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR HUMANISTIC STUDIES IN LANGUAGE]
설립연도
2000
분야
인문학>언어학
소개
국제언어인문학회는 '언어를 통한 인문학 연구'의 필요성에 동감하는 여러 전공분야 학자들의 뜻을 담고 있습니다. 언어에 초점을 맞추는 것은, 다양한 전공분야의 참여에서 생겨날 수 있는 '이질적 집합'의 상황을 극복하기 위한 장치입니다. 현재로서는 작은 불씨를 지핀 것에 불과합니다. 그러나 이렇게 일구어진 불꽃이 새로운 학풍의 바람결에 커다란 섬광으로 빛나게 될 날이 올 것을 우리는 확신합니다. 우리의 학회와 학술지는 인문학 불변의 가치와 시대적 사명을 인식하는 국내외의 학자들을 향해 활짝 개방되어 있습니다. 특정 전공의 범위를 넘어서서 철학, 문학, 언어학, 종교, 역사, 문화, 예술 등의 시각에서 언어의 본질을 토론할 기회가 될 것입니다.