This excellent book clearly outlines the value Veterinary Anthropology can provide to our understanding of animals, disease and society. It also provides context for veterinarians to understand how their profession became such as it did.
Animals, Disease and Human Society: Human-animal Relations and the Rise of Veterinary Medicine
In recent years, the issue of animal disease has seldom been out of the headlines. The emergence of BSE and the threat of food-borne infections such as E.coli and salmonella have focused public attention on the impact of animal disease on human society. However, the problem of animal disease is far from new. Animals, Disease and Human Society explores the history and nature of our dependency on other animals and the implications of this for human and animal health.
Writing from a historical and sociological perspective, Joanna Swabe’s work discusses such issues as:
* animal domestication
* the consequences of human exploitation of other animals, including links between human and animal disease
* the rise of a veterinary regime, designed to protect humans and animals alike
* implications of intensive farming practices, pet-keeping and recent biotechnological developments.
This account spans a period of some ten thousand years, and raises important questions about the increasing intensification of animal use for both animal and human health. All those interested in human-animal relationships or in public health issues will find Animals, Disease and Human Society a thought-provoking and rewarding work.
Joanna Swabe is a Postdoctoral Researcher affiliated to the Amsterdam School for Social Science Research, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Veterinary Anthropology 