The Outbreak Narrative with Priscilla Wald
Episode 24 - August 23, 2020
Priscilla Wald (Duke University) joins Merle and Lee to discuss the “outbreak narrative” she outlined in her influential book Contagious. After defining the outbreak narrative as a common way to understand infectious disease outbreaks, the conversation moves to examine where the outbreak narrative is used, and why has it been so popular for so long. Other topics covered include the relationship between zombie stories and the outbreak narrative, whether COVID fits the narrative, and why there are – perhaps – reasons for post-COVID optimism.
Further Reading
- Priscilla Wald, Contagious: Cultures, Carriers, and the Outbreak Narrative. Duke University Press, 2008.
- Laurie Garrett, The Coming Plague: The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World Out of Balance. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1994.
- Jill Lepore, “What Our Contagion Fables Are Really About”, The New Yorker (March 30, 2020).
- Joshua Lederberg, “Infectious History”, Science 288(5464), pp. 287-293.
Our Guest
Priscilla Wald,
R. Florence Brinkley Distinguished Professor of English, Department of English, Duke University.
