A Multidisciplinary Approach to Pandemics

Book excerpt: Pandemics have quickly become one of the most important subjects of the twenty-first century. This edited volume provides a comparative analysis of the ways in which pandemics are theorized and studied across several disciplines. A Multidisciplinary Approach to Pandemics has two objectives: first, to explore the growing diversity of theories and paradigms developed to study pandemics; and second, to initiate a multidisciplinary dialogue about the ontological, epistemological, paradigmatic, and normative aspects of studying pandemics across disciplines. The study of pandemics is not new. Yet despite the volume of research interest in a host of academic fields, scholars rarely talk across the disciplines. This study seeks to fill that gap by attempting to bridge disciplinary canyons. Eager to encourage this arena of conversation, this book brings together in a single volume essays by political scientists, environmental scholars, legal scholars, clinical pharmacists, economists, scholars of urban planning, scholars in health and medicine schools, and researchers in business and management.