Contagious Communities by Roberta Bivins

Contagious Communities by Roberta Bivins

It was only a coincidence that the NHS and the Empire Windrush (a ship carrying 492 migrants from Britain's West Indian colonies) arrived together. On 22 June 1948, as the ship's passengers disembarked, frantic preparations were already underway for 5 July, the Appointed Day when the nation's new National Health Service would first open its doors. The relationship between immigration and the NHS rapidly attained - and has enduringly retained - notable political and cultural significance. Both the Appointed Day and the post-war arrival of colonial and Commonwealth immigrants heralded transformative change. Together, they reshaped daily life in Britain and notions of 'Britishness' alike. Yet the reciprocal impacts of post-war immigration and medicine in post-war Britain have yet to be explored. Contagious Communities casts new light on a period which is beginning to attract significant historical interest. Roberta Bivins draws attention to the importance - but also the limitations - of medical knowledge, approaches, and professionals in mediating post-war British responses to race, ethnicity, and the emergence of new and distinctive ethnic communities. By presenting a wealth of newly available or previously ignored archival evidence, she interrogates and re-balances the political history of Britain's response to New Commonwealth immigration. Contagious Communities uses a set of linked case-studies to map the persistence of 'race' in British culture and medicine alike; the limits of belonging in a multi-ethnic welfare state; and the emergence of new and resolutely 'unimagined' communities of patients, researchers, clinicians, policy-makers, and citizens within the medical state and its global contact zones.

I was fascinated by the parallels with modern debates about immigration and the untenable pressure on the NHS.. Bivin's writing is at its best [when discussing an outbreak of smallpox, which was transmitted by a girl from Pakistan]: from accounts of the family media reports and diplomatic officials, her attention to detail brings it all to life. * Linda Geddes, New Scientist *
Contagious Communities offers an intriguing exploration of the ways in which particular aspects of policy and practice were shaped by a range of evolving factors. It significantly enhances our understanding of the racialisation of medicine and healthcare and the medicalising of immigration policy. * Dr Julian Simpson, Reviews in History *
Bivins' work is a nuanced and finely-grained account of the dynamic and often problematic relationship between two central features of post-war Britain. * Becky Taylor, Social History of Medicine *

Roberta Bivins (BA Columbia; PhD MIT) is a historian of medicine at the University of Warwick. Her early research examined the cross-cultural transmission of medical expertise, particularly in relation to global and alternative medicine. Since 2004, funded by the Wellcome Trust, she has studied the impacts of immigration and ethnicity on postwar British health, medical research, and practice. Her new research examines the cultural history and influence of the British National Health Service since 1948. Bivins also convenes the trans-sector and trans-disciplinary IDEA Collaboration (www.go.warwick.ac.uk/IDEACollab) for improving the delivery of ethnically aware research, practice, and policies in healthcare.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780198725282
ISBN 10	0198725280
Title	Contagious Communities
Author	Roberta Bivins
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Oxford University Press
Year published	2015-09-24
Number of pages	442
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note	Unavailable