Prevention som grund för samhället

Smittan och dess efterdyningar i dystopin "Bärarna"

Abstract

This article analyses Jessica Schiefauer’s speculative novel Bärarna (2020), and examines the consequences of building a society based on disease prevention. The novel depicts a future where a rabies-like disease has nearly wiped out humanity. In this dystopia, men, as carriers of the disease, are separated from women to prevent the resurgence of the illness. The article investigates how the novel illuminates the dangers of making disease prevention a central societal ideal. It discusses how Schiefauer, through speculative fiction, creates a thought experiment in which prevention is taken to its extreme, resulting in a society characterised by both utopian care and dystopian dehumanising. The article shows how the novel cautions against societies built on fear and exclusion, while stressing the need to critically assess the role of disease prevention.