Infectious Historians

Wayne Soon [https://cse.umn.edu/hstm/wayne-soon⁠] (University of Minnesota) joins the Infectious Historians to chat about his work on Taiwan. Wayne begins with a survey of Covid in Taiwan, highlighting state responses and how other countries featured in Taiwan during the pandemic. The conversation then moves back to examine the impacts of the SARS epidemic on Taiwan - including mask-wearing and mask production - and how those impacts would later influence the ways in which Taiwan responded to Covid. Wayne highlights Taiwan’s health insurance model as a source of strength in the Taiwanese response, and uses the Taiwanese case to argue more broadly that democracies, rather than only autocracies, can effectively deal with pandemics. Wayne finishes with some of the personal lessons he had learned during his work.

Jordan Wilson (Georgetown University) and Janet Kay (Independent Scholar) join Merle and Lee to talk about bioarchaeology in light of an article they wrote on the bioarchaeology of the first plague pandemic. The conversation starts off with an explanation of bioarchaeology, its methodologies (including bone identification!) and how does daily work in that field look like. Within the context of the joint paper, Jordan and Janet also explain how they see collaborations in general and working with historians more specifically. They also weigh in on how one might reconcile both disciplines, and speculate about collaborations in the future and their potential.

Natalie Porter (independent scholar) joins Merle and Lee to discuss her work on Avian Flu in Vietnam. Natalie begins with an explanation of what Avian (Bird) Flu is, alongside a survey of the culling that happens when epidemics occur among birds. Natalie explains how she came to work on this topic, and shares some of her own experiences as an anthropologist conducting research on this subject in Vietnam. She also analyzes the Vietnamese response to such outbreaks as divided between local, national and international levels. The conversation concludes with Natalie talking about her trajectory out of academia and into IT and her reflection on the differences between her old and new roles.

Bianca Lopez [https://www.smu.edu/dedman/academics/departments/history/people/facultystaff/biancalopez⁠] (Southern Methodist University) joins the Infectious Historians to discuss her recent book on plague, piety and power in late medieval Italy. Lopez begins with a survey of the impact of the Black Death and subsequent second pandemic outbreaks on Italy and moves on to talk about the specific area she studies - Santa Maria di Loreto. She examines the indirect impacts of plague on the rural area while using some of the surviving testaments to better understand mortality in the area in the late 14th century and early 15th century. The discussion covers the physicality of the site as well as the challenges in making causal connections. Before wrapping up, Lopez also touches upon her experience writing a history of disease during Covid, and reflects on how her pandemic work might help researchers working on other pandemics.

Xiaoping Fang [https://research.monash.edu/en/persons/xiaoping-fang⁠] (Monash University) comes on the podcast to discuss his recent book about cholera’s role in mid-20th century China. Fang begins by discussing cholera broadly before moving to focus on its role in China, primarily through examining it as a public health event. Although the mortality of the cholera epidemic was not very high, it was more important in restructuring the Chinese sociopolitical system while also restablishing its legitimacy. Fang touches upon the differential impact of the pandemic and state response on urban and rural Chinese populations. Finally, the conversation moves to Covid and potential linkages between both disease events.