Temporality and discontinuity as aspects of smallpox outbreak in Yugoslavia

Trifunović, Vesna

doi:10.2298/gei1701127t

Cited by 4 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 6 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Trifunović (2017), is another social anthropologist from Serbia who has analysed temporalities of health-related concerns. Discussing 1972 smallpox epidemics in the SFRY, she shows that the perceptions of epidemics have their foundation in the cultural understanding of temporal distance and discontinuity between two political systems of Yugoslavia.…”

Section: Wider Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

In Torlak we (would) trust: domestic vaccine production in contemporary Serbia

Brujić

2022

Med Humanities

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Throughout the era of socialist Yugoslavia, the Institute of Virology, Vaccines and Sera ‘Torlak’ in Belgrade was a well known producer and exporter of vaccines. After the dissolution of the country, it gradually lost its significance in both global and domestic vaccine markets. However, in Serbian public discourse, Torlak’s vaccines are still remembered as of the highest quality. Many people would willingly vaccinate themselves or their children with Torlak’s vaccines. But how do overly positive Yugoslav vaccination experiences influence vaccination narratives in contemporary postsocialist Serbia? To answer this question, I analysed electronic word of mouth from 2005 until 2020 from Serbia’s main daily news sources. Public narratives on Torlak’s vaccine production seem to be a local response and a consequence of global changes in the international vaccine market. Furthermore, this study shows that public calls for the revival of Torlak’s vaccine production are part of wider public yearning for ‘normal life’ in postsocialist Serbia. In this respect, positive memories of Torlak vaccines do not serve as a strategy for dealing with the past. As a special form of Yugo-nostalgia and as a ‘material embodiment’ of normal life under socialism, narratives represent a strategy for dealing with the present: a therapy for dealing with the ‘abnormality’ of life in today’s Serbia. Contemporary public vaccination attitudes are shaped both by collective memory of the production and administration of Torlak’s vaccines in socialist Yugoslavia, and by narratives on Torlak’s unfavourable current position. They also reflect wider opinions, hopes and yearning for the restoration of the country’s political, health and economic institutions.

show abstract

Section: Wider Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

In Torlak we (would) trust: domestic vaccine production in contemporary Serbia

Brujić

2022

Med Humanities

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…16 Виђење да су "вакцине жртве свог успеха" најбоље указује на овај фактор у земљама где је елиминација одређених болести утицала на значајно смањење страха и опрезности према њима (в. Trifunović 2017).…”

Section: вакцинална колебљивост -теоријски оквирunclassified

Vaccine hesitancy in Western and Eastern Europe: The significance of contextual influences

Trifunović¹

2022

Glas Etnogr inst

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Using the example of Eastern and Western Europe, the paper points out the importance of contextual influences on decisions and behaviour regarding vaccines and vaccination. Contextual determinants have been identified as important in theorizing the concept of vaccine hesitancy that allows for a comprehensive understanding of the reasons why the public questions vaccines. Therefore, the paper first presents the theoretical elaboration of the aforementioned concept, and then discusses the contextual influences on vaccine hesitancy within the European region in order to showcase the differences that exist in this respect between Western and Eastern Europe, as well as between certain minority communities and the majority population in some Western European countries. In all cases, vaccine hesitancy appears to be a matter of trust which has been further eroded by social, political and economic experiences characteristic for the post-socialist context in Eastern Europe and the conditions in which some minority communities live in Western Europe. The theoretical framework of the concept of vaccine hesitancy is presented according to the report of the SAGE Working Group on Vaccine Hesitancy, while the presentation of contextual determinants is based on the results of quantitative and qualitative research in different European countries and reviews of studies that focus on these influences.

show abstract

“…Циљ рада је да покажемо на које је све начине здравствени, медицински и државни наратив о ММР вакцинацији могуће ишчитати и анализирати као "текст" и које су импликације тог наратива. Иако не постоји пуно антрополошких радова на тему богиња и вакцинације у Србији (Knežević 1989;Trifunović 2017;, они показуују колико антрополози могу да допринесу у културном разумевању здравствених политика. 6 У складу с тим, и ово истраживање треба посматрати као један од начина тумачења државне и здравствене политике о ММР вакцинацији.…”

unclassified

“…Из перспективе културне епидемиологије која посматра културне факторе као елементе биомедицинских догађаја и користећи концепт времена као производа културе, Трифуновићева је анализирала епидемију великих богиња (вариола вера) из 1972. Упоредивши ову епидемију са, до тада, последњом епидемијом из 1930. у Краљевини Југославији, ауторка је закључила да је новонастала ситуација последица неколико фактора, од којих су најважнији: временска, социокултурна и политичка дистанцираност од претсоцијалистичког периода (који се сматрао "назадним" и "заосталим") у колективном памћењу; неспремност лекара и политичара да прихвате чињеницу да је социјалистички систем негде "омануо" и, најзад, неприпремљеност здравствених радника који прво нису препознали велике богиње док, напослетку, здравствени сектор није био спреман за брзу и масовну вакцинацију(Trifunović 2017). У раду(Trifunović 2019), ауторка анализира дискурсе о вакцинама међу медицинским експертима и у јавности, на основу свог дуготрајног истраживања медија, медицинских приручника и јавних медицинских предавања о вакцинама.…”

unclassified

“Stick without a Carrot”: An Anthropological Analysis of the Daily Press on Mandatory MMR Immunization in Serbia

Brujić

2020

EAP / IEA

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The vaccine is considered in academic, foremost medical, but also in political and public discourse as one of the greatest human achievements. Immunization has saved and is saving millions of lives around the world. However, from a historical perspective, immunization was always followed by more or less public resistance due to its alleged negative side-effects, such as outbursts of severe illnesses. A mandatory childhood vaccine against measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) is part of the current controversy over the harmfulness of vaccines in Serbia. In view of the fact that the media is an important source for transmitting health messages and understanding health issues, the subject of this paper is the media presentation of MMR immunization in Serbia. How was the state health care narrative on MMR immunization presented in the Serbian daily press during the last two measles outbreaks in 2014-2015 and 2017-2018? By using the theoretical “text-context-hypertext” approcah to media content by Ljiljana Gavrilović, Serbian broadsheets and daily papers, such as Blic, Kurir, Politika, Večernje Novosti, from the period 2014-2020, are analyzed. The preliminary results show that the news that concurs with the 2014-15 measles epidemic differs greatly from the news during the 2017-18 epidemic. During the first period, the papers carried medical experts’ advice on the benefits and importance of the MMR vaccine, criticizing (irrational and emotional) parents (mostly mothers) who do not vaccinate their children, in parallel with parental lay evidence on its harmfulness. From approximately 2017 anti-vaccination attitudes disappeared from the newspapers, even from the yellow press. This is concomitant with the new Law on the Protection of the Population against Communicable Diseases (2016), which penalizes anti-vaccination lobbying. In other words, instead of gaining public trust in the health sector and the state by presenting facts, offering dialogue with opponents and systematic education, the state leaders discredited and excluded opposing opinions as “uncivilized”, “irrational” and part of “anti-vaccination lobbying”. Studies explained that citizens of post-socialist countries trust more individuals (friends and family) and distrust the state authorities (as enemies). By introducing compulsory penalties for non-vaccination, the state only deepened this historical and cultural distrust between the state and its citizen. To conclude, insults to parents of non-immunized children, threats of penalties and actual penalties, and the exaggeration of the outcomes of the 2014-15 measles epidemic did not lead to mass immunization. On the contrary, all this acted only counterproductively, as the latest epidemic broke out precisely among non-vaccinated and semi-vaccinated populations. Therefore, it is suggested in the paper that this vaccine should be optional, parallel with the introduction of organized promotion of MMR vaccination, its benefits and side-effects, detailed information on vaccine content, greater freedom of media content on the MMR vaccine, and open public dialogue of parents with medical experts.

show abstract

Temporality and discontinuity as aspects of smallpox outbreak in Yugoslavia

Cited by 4 publications

References 6 publications

In Torlak we (would) trust: domestic vaccine production in contemporary Serbia

In Torlak we (would) trust: domestic vaccine production in contemporary Serbia

Vaccine hesitancy in Western and Eastern Europe: The significance of contextual influences

“Stick without a Carrot”: An Anthropological Analysis of the Daily Press on Mandatory MMR Immunization in Serbia

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About