Sinful and Suffering Nation: Cholera and the Evolution of Medical and Religious Authority in Britain, 1832-1866

Abstract

Describes how the four cholera epidemics between 1832 and 1866 became part of a debate on social authority and nationhood. While Anglican clergy and the emerging medical profession struggled over the right to publicly interpret the social meanings of cholera, those that doctors and clergy intended to represent and control also had their own interpretations of the cholera epidemics, largely set in terms of negative social control. Analyzes interpretations by conflicting parties to show how cholera became a foundational issue, leading to specific discursive moves on the part of Church, state, medical authorities, and labor organizations. Claims metaphors specific to the circumstances of the first cholera epidemic gained an important, even constitutive force in the discourse of the national body as it emerged over the next four decades.