A word from the authors, Claudia Patricia Platarrueda Vanegas and Catherín Agudelo Arévalo:

Between March and April 2002, we researched documents on leprosy in Colombia for the ILA Global Project on the History of Leprosy, under Diana Obregón's tutorship. This increased our interest in the social study of leprosy through documents, and consequently, we decided to bring together our individual dissertation projects and construct an annotated bibliography, to obtain our respective Anthropology and History degrees. The research was directed by Diana Obregón and José Antonio Amaya, both lecturers at the Department of History of the Universidad Nacional de Colombia. It was prepared between May 2002 and June 2003. The resulting bibliography was put forward by the examiners for the 'Tesis Laureada' award, which is pending and depends on a grade of Distinction. We believe that our research objective meets the ILA's interest in the description of archives related to those places where leprosy has been endemic.

When we first began the work, we built up a preliminary record of approximately 2300 printed papers on leprosy and leprosaria in Colombia, all produced from colonial times up to the present. This provided a way of identifying remarkable changes in the social management of leprosy and defining the chronological framework of the bibliographical compilation. We recognised a gradual process of construction of leprosaria, as well as the consolidation of rigorous isolation measures and the increase of medical authority on the definition of control practices for the disease. We read and recorded documents dated up to 1910, preserved in the libraries of Bogotá. At this point, we decided to impose more chronological restrictions, after realising that the number of items registered (close to 1200) exceeded the scope of the required dissertation.

In the final phase, we limited the work to documents written between 1535 and 1871. During this period, a succession of governmental measures can be traced. These were promoted in order to found institutions for the assistance and control of leprosy. In 1871, the last of three Colombian leprosaria was founded, and remained throughout the twentieth century.

Abstract

An essay of an annotated bibliography on leprosy and leprosaria in Colombia, 1535-1871: social construction, representations and management.
Authors: Claudia Patricia Platarrueda Vanegas and Catherín Agudelo Arévalo.

As a result of the merge of their parallel ethnographic and historical research projects on leprosy and leprosaria in Colombia, the authors offer an annotated bibliography specialized on both subjects. The theoretical frame of reference for the required investigation is based upon concepts of medical epidemiology, ecological anthropology and historical studies about social construction of illnesses, recognizing leprosy in its biological, social and cultural dimensions. This frame identifies the influence of disability and deformity in the conformation of stigma, and that of the stigma in delimiting ambiguous feelings and emotions (compassion-repudiation), as well as religious and moral appraisals (purity-corruption) and exclusion practices (protection-segregation).

The resulting bibliography presents 302 printed papers organized chronologically, which were produced between 1535 and 1871. It is the outcome of a rigorous revision of catalogues, indexes, bibliographies, legal regulatory compilations, serial publications, official reports and databases of libraries located in Bogotá. The catalogue focuses mainly on the capture of notions and categories related to pathological definitions (etiology, symptomatology, nosology, diagnostic, classification, therapeutic), representations (values, ideological concepts), models (charity, philanthropy, public welfare, science), practices (assistance, isolation), prophylactic prescriptions (hygiene, police), construction of hospitals and leprosaria (social conformation, infrastructure, administration, economy), and social relations (power, hierarchy, identity, resistance, territoriality). It also builds indexes of serial information on onomastics, toponyms, institutions, chronologies, editorials, legal regulations, fields of production and thematic contents.

The catalogue reveals that leprosy affects the whole social environment and not only the medical one, thus influencing the construction of rules, policies and institutions, religious and philanthropic principles, meanings and cultural experiences, aesthetic and artistic expressions, among others. Finally, it shows that the leprosarium, more than a prophylactic institution, is the place where these definitions, representations, models, practices, and relations take shape, within the framework demarcated by stigma and exclusion.

Resumen

Ensayo de una bibliografía comentada sobre lepra y lazaretos en Colombia, 1535-1871: construcción, representaciones y manejo sociales.
Autoras: Claudia Patricia Platarrueda Vanegas y Catherín Agudelo Arévalo.

Como un resultado de la unión de sus proyectos paralelos de investigación etnográfica e histórica sobre lepra y lazaretos en Colombia, las autoras ofrecen una bibliografía comentada especializada en ambos temas. El marco teórico de referencia de la investigación tiene fundamento en conceptos de epidemiología médica, antropología ecológica y estudios históricos sobre construcción social de enfermedades, reconociendo la lepra en sus dimensiones biológica, social y cultural. En este marco, la investigación advierte el influjo de la discapacidad y la deformidad en la conformación del estigma, y del estigma en el delineamiento de ambiguos sentimientos y emociones (compasión-repudio), valoraciones morales y religiosas (pureza-corrupción) y prácticas de exclusión (protección-segregación).

La bibliografía presenta 302 impresos organizados cronológicamente, los cuales fueron producidos entre los años de 1535 y de 1871. Es resultado de una revisión rigurosa de catálogos, índices, bibliografías, compilaciones normativas, publicaciones seriadas, informes oficiales y bases de datos de bibliotecas de Bogotá. Registra y describe los documentos, enfocando su atención en la captura de nociones y categorías relativas a definiciones patológicas (etiología, sintomatología, nosología, diagnóstico, clasificación, terapéutica), representaciones (valoraciones, nociones ideológicas), modelos (caridad, beneficencia, filantropía, ciencia), prácticas (asilamiento, aislamiento), prescripciones profilácticas (higiene, salubridad, policía), construcción de hospitales y lazaretos (conformación social, infraestructura, administración, economía), y relaciones sociales (poder, jerarquía, identidad, resistencia, territorialidad). También construye índices para proveer información serial sobre onomásticos, toponímicos, instituciones, cronologías, editoriales, normas, ámbitos de producción y contenidos temáticos.

El catálogo revela que la lepra repercute no sólo en el ámbito médico, sino en todos los ámbitos sociales, influyendo de esta manera en la construcción de normas, políticas e instituciones, principios religiosos y filantrópicos, significaciones y experiencias culturales y expresiones estéticas y artísticas, entre otros aspectos. Finalmente, evidencia que el lazareto, más que una institución de profilaxis, es el lugar donde toman forma aquellas definiciones, representaciones, modelos, prácticas y relaciones, delimitadas en el marco del estigma y la exclusión.