This article examines how populations aff ected by the Ebola epidemic in Liberia reacted to the implementation of mandatory, state-imposed quarantine as a way of curtailing transmission. The ethnography, based on in-depth fi eldwork in both urban and rural areas, shows how mandatory quarantine caused severe social consequences for both people’s perceptions of epidemic control and their health-seeking behaviours. The authoritarian imposition of this public-health measure soon became a driver of social fear that contributed to the divide between institutions and population, jeopardising the control of transmission. Its implementation overshadowed more acceptable local quarantine measures that communities were organising to protect themselves from transmission. The analysis argues that quarantine in Liberia was counterproductive and suggests alternatives to epidemic control rooted in social acceptance and local practices.

中文翻译：

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检疫及其不满：利比里亚人如何应对埃博拉疫情遏制措施

本文研究了利比里亚受埃博拉疫情影响的居民如何对实施强制性的，国家规定的隔离进行反应，以减少传播。人种志以在城市和农村地区的深入工作为基础，显示了强制隔离对人们对流行病控制的认识及其健康追求行为如何造成了严重的社会后果。这种公共卫生措施的专制主义很快成为社会恐惧的驱动力，社会恐惧加剧了机构与人口之间的鸿沟，危及了对传播的控制。它的实施使社区组织起来保护自己免受传染的更可接受的地方检疫措施蒙上了阴影。