We’re proud to celebrate our colleague Dr. Pablo F. Gómez on the publication of his groundbreaking new book, Bloody Numbers: The Early Atlantic Slave Trade and the Invention of Modern Corporeality (University of Chicago Press).
This scholarly work examines how sixteenth and early seventeenth-century Atlantic slave trade practices influenced the development of modern approaches to understanding human bodies through quantification. Dr. Gómez traces how traders, officials, and ship captains used measurements and statistical methods when managing enslaved populations, revealing connections to later developments in epidemiology and public health. By illuminating this historical evolution, Bloody Numbers expands our understanding of how quantitative methods became embedded in modern medical and scientific systems. Faculty scholarship like this deepens our knowledge of healthcare history and contributes valuable historical context to contemporary medical practice.
Congratulations, Dr. Gómez, on this essential contribution to medical history and bioethics.
Learn more: go.wisc.edu/utf88a
Read the full article at: https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/B/bo267541255.html