This axis will address the epidemic body in situations of health crisis or extraordinary excess mortality, through laboratory and field work. The bio-cultural, genetic and osteo-archaeological research intends to approach the epidemic body by surrounding itself with the team's expertise in law, ethics and odontology.
Since the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, academic work on the mechanisms of contagion and propagation of emerging (or re-emerging) pathogens has been renewed in response to strong scientific and social expectations linked to the health context. This unprecedented situation of global health crisis has acted as a catalyst for research on the epidemic body, mobilizing the skills of different researchers in the team to deepen and diversify the available knowledge of epidemic phenomena. The deleterious impact that these phenomena can have on social organizations and human lives is more than enough to justify anthropological and humanities and social sciences work devoted to them. The pandemic event of 2020/2021 has confirmed the relevance of the scientific orientations of the researchers of axis n°5. Several of them were already specialists in epidemics and more generally in phenomena of extraordinary mortality. The researchers of the project did not discover their interest in pandemics at a late stage. Their long-standing familiarity with the epidemic phenomenon guarantees the quality of their expertise.