Vermin with Lisa Sarasohn
Episode 76 - August 26, 2021
Lisa Sarasohn (Oregon State University) joins the Infectious Historians to discuss her forthcoming book on vermin since the 17th century. The interview begins with an overview of what vermin are – and how different animal species have been included or excluded throughout the years. The conversation then moves to touch upon early modern conceptions of vermin which eventually led to the stereotyping of human groups as verminous or vermin in the context of colonialism and imperialism. Lisa also expands on two specific species of vermin – lice and rats – before tying the discussion to Covid.
Further Reading
- Dawn Day Biehler, Pests in the City: Flies, Bedbugs, Cockroaches and Rats (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2013); Hugh Raffles, Insectopia (New York: Vintage, 2011).
- J. R. Busvine, Insects, Hygiene and History (London: The Athlone Press, 1976).
- Lucinda Cole, Imperfect Creatures: Vermin, Literature, and the Sciences of Life, 1600-1740 (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2016).
- Lisa T. Sarasohn, Getting Under Our Skin: The Cultural and Social History of Vermin (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2021).
- Robert Sullivan, Rats: Observations on the History and Habitat of the City's Most Unwanted Inhabitants (New York: Bloomsbury, 2004).
Our Guest
Lisa Sarasohn
History Department – Oregon State University
