A series of ‘in conversation’ events exploring the many historical perspectives through which we can view, and better understand, the current coronavirus pandemic.
Tag: public health
COVID-19 and Health Inequality
COVID-19 is not an equal opportunity disease. Even as politicians, managers, and UN officials give us pep talks about how we’re all in this together, segments of our society are having vastly different experiences of this pandemic.
History Does Have Something to Say
How can the history of the response to the 2009-10 swine flu epidemic illuminate the British government’s response to the COVID crisis? Virginia Berridge explores.
The legacy of pandemics in the community: 1918 and 2020
What can the British provincial press tell us about the way pandemics have historically been experienced at a local level? Andrew Jackson proposes that such coverage offers vital insights into community-led responses to global public health crises in 1918 and 2020.
Radical Object: Spanish flu badge, 1918-19
Martin Plaut unearths a Radical Object: the badge struck to commemorate the Spanish flu pandemic that followed the First World War.
Sensing the Past in the Present: Coronavirus and the Bubonic Plague
What can we learn from comparing past and present sensory experiences of illness? The senses are an essential avenue through which we navigate understandings and responses to disease. Further research into how people sense illness, both inside and outside of the hospital, past and present, can aid our understanding of the experience of sickness and recovery for individuals and societies, particularly at times of public health crisis.
Behaviour Change, Public Health and ‘The Public’
How did behaviour change become an integral part of public health strategies in the twentieth century? And what insights can this history offer in tackling the unique challenge of Covid-19?
