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Thesis Defence: Anatomy of a Riot: The Biopolitics of the British Cholera Riots, 1831–1832
August 27 at 9:00 am - 1:00 pm
Reilly Ikebuchi, supervised by Dr. Margaret Carlyle, will defend their thesis titled “Anatomy of a Riot: The Biopolitics of the British Cholera Riots, 1831–1832″ in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Graduate Studies Power, Conflict, and Ideas Theme.
An abstract for Reilly Ikebuchi’s thesis is included below.
Defences are open to all members of the campus community as well as the general public. Registration is not required for in-person defences.
ABSTRACT
The British Cholera Riots of 1831 and 1832 were a series of working-class protests against public health policies and the perceived proliferation of graverobbing during the Second Cholera Pandemic. For decades, medicine had been increasingly institutionalized as an arm of biopower. Medicine reinforced existing power structures, and in exchange, legislative and judicial bodies granted medical authorities the prerogative to experiment on working-class bodies. When cholera arrived in Britain, the working class was forced to choose between submitting themselves to potentially predatory medical authorities or face disease and death alone. This thesis investigates the historical relationship between doctors and poor communities to understand why the Cholera Riots occurred. It contends that the riots were a reaction by the working class to the encroachment of this biopolitical medical authority on traditional cultural practices and bodily rights. Through a genealogical analysis of medicine’s relationship with the working class and a historical analysis of the Cholera Riots supported by archival research, this thesis broadens the traditional scope of research to introduce new perspectives and contexts. Traditionally studied as an epidemiological event, I posit that the Cholera Riots must be situated in a broader chronological scope to understand the power dynamics at work. This thesis thus aims to return agency to the rioters by providing a historical rationale for their behaviour that moves beyond their reputation as irrational.
