Methodology and Meaning in the Retrospective Diagnosis of the Black Death
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Course
Methodology and Meaning in the Retrospective
Institution
Birmingham City University (BCU)
Methodology and Meaning in the Retrospective
Diagnosis of the Black Death.Plague Debate:
Methodology and meaning in the retrospective
diagnosis of the Black Death
Contents
Introduction 10.
Section 1: Scholarly Discourses
Chapter 1: 39.
Creating the Bubonic Paradigm
Chapter 2: 70.
Scientif...
Plague Debate:
Methodology and Meaning in the Retrospective
Diagnosis of the Black Death
Karl Birkelbach
B.A. (Hons)
A thesis presented for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy to the School of Humanities
Department of History
University of Western Australia
2009
, Plague Debate:
Methodology and meaning in the retrospective
diagnosis of the Black Death
Karl Birkelbach
The University of Western Australia
Debate over the retrospective diagnosis of the fourteenth-century ‗Black Death‘
pandemic and its successive outbreaks is often popularly represented as taking
place primarily between proponents of the bubonic paradigm, and the more recent
revisionist academics, who ascribe different medical origins to the disease. I argue,
on the contrary, that the revisionist discussion forms only part of a long-running
series of debates amongst those who diagnose the disease agent as Yersinia pestis. I
refer to this conflict as the ‗plague debate.‘
This thesis will analyse how this debate has been influenced chiefly by the
construction of the Black Death as an historical event through various modern
‗paradigms,‘ and the inherent interdisciplinary nature of retrospective diagnosis,
which renders it subject to methodological and ideological shifts within approaches
to the study of both disease and history.
I argue that the way in which various disciplines are in dialogue with one another
has created a space for diverse interpretations of the medical nature of the Black
Death within the ‗plague debate.‘ Furthermore, I consider a possible new
perspective in which to in situate the ‗plague debate‘ in rejection of the more
popular demarcations. Specifically, how the various interpretations of the
retrospective diagnosis of the Black Death are representative of deeper issues
concerning the faith of humanity in science, modernity and the future: whether we
believe we have ‗conquered‘ our plagues or whether we are still at the whim of
natural forces beyond our control.
4
,5
, Plague Debate:
Methodology and meaning in the retrospective
diagnosis of the Black Death
Contents
Introduction 10.
Section 1: Scholarly Discourses
Chapter 1: 39.
Creating the Bubonic Paradigm
Chapter 2: 70.
Scientific Research and the Retrospective Diagnosis of the Black Death
Chapter 3: 131.
Interpretation of the Bubonic Paradigm by Historians
Chapter 4: 164.
The Black Death as a ‗Turning Point‘: Constructions and Consequences
Chapter 5: 201.
Diagnosis Revisionists and the ‗Plague Debate‘
Section 2: Popular Discussions
Chapter 6: 266.
Plague Representation and Interpretation in Popular Media: Non-fiction
Chapter 7 305.
Plague Representation and Interpretation in Popular Media: Fiction
Conclusion 368.
The Plague Debate: Retrodiagnosis diagnosed
Bibliography 378.
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