Historizität, Materialität und Hybridität von Wissenspraxen

Abstract

This article analyses the emergence of European regimes of prevention by focussing on the history of knowledge-related practices as a distinctly modern form of social and political rationality in Western Europe. While the targets, means, logics and institutional forms of preventative interventions differ significantly in European national contexts, the authors also trace the elements of a convergent trajectory in the development of prevention regimes. Based on a case study on Cyprus, the article also highlights how European colonies provided a crucial »laboratory« for the development of innovative approaches to prevention, revealing a »histoire croisée« of prevention practices.