Iran in the Age of Cholera with Amir Afkhami
Episode 21 - August 2, 2020
Amir Afkhami (George Washington University) talks to Merle and Lee about the 19th and early 20th century outbreaks of cholera in Iran. He begins with a broad overview of recent Iranian history in the context of infectious diseases, and continues to discuss how imperialism and colonialism shaped how cholera struck Iran. Amir then shows how modern public health emerged in the country as one of the outcomes of this disease. At the end of the conversation Amir also discusses the wider context of infectious diseases in Iran, including the 1918 Influenza Pandemic and Covid-19.
Further Reading
- Amir Afkhami, A Modern Contagion: Imperialism and Public Health in Iran’s Age of Cholera. 1 edition. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2019.
- Amir Afkhami “Compromised Constitutions: The Iranian Experience with the 1918 Influenza Pandemic.” Bulletin of the History of Medicine 77, no. 2 (2003): 367–92.
- Special Thematic Issue of the Journal Iranian Studies Medicine and Public Health in Modern Iran: Historical and Sociological Perspectives 2020 vol. 53 no. 1-2
- Fuchsia Hart, “Contagion or Cure? A History of Healing and Pandemic in Qom.” Ajam Media Collective (blog), May 12, 2020.
Our Guest
Amir Afkhami,
Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and the Department of Global Health at the George Washington University.
