Governing through Contagion

This chapter focuses on the concept of “governing through contagion.” Flexing power over life, governing through contagion regulates subjects of a population to ensure their bodies are free from contagion, do not spread contagion to fellow subjects, and stay economically productive-or at least, avoid incurring economic costs of medicine and containment. In many territories, the legal strategies of control in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, such as quarantine orders and movement restrictions, grew out of earlier episodes of contagion that significantly shaped governing through contagion. The chapter then introduces three themes of governing through contagion: centralization and technology of law;normalization and technologies of moralization;and inter/dysconnectedness and the rearticulation of difference. The analysis draws on the historical ethnography of one British post-colony, Singapore, situated in three contexts: the colonial era (particularly 1868-1915), which was troubled by numerous epidemics such as plague, cholera, and smallpox;the 2003 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak;and the Covid-19 pandemic. © the several contributors 2021.