Episode 44 – Epidemiology and Infectious Disease Models with Lukas Engelmann
Adia Benton (Northwestern University) discusses the 2014 West African Ebola outbreak and why Ebola, as a charismatic disease, has such a powerful hold over our imagination.
Lee
Episode 42- The Age of Pandemics in India and the World with Chinmay Tumbe
Chinmay Tumbe (Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad) discusses his new book, The Age of Pandemics, that focuses on the cholera, plague, and the 1918 Influenza pandemics in India.
Episode 40 – Forgetting and Remembering the 1918 Influenza Pandemic with Guy Beiner
Guy Beiner (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev) discusses how people and societies have forgotten and remembered the 1918 Influenza Pandemic over the last century.
Episode 38 – Animals and Epidemics with Susan Jones
Susan Jones (University of Minnesota) discusses the key role of animals in the spread of diseases and the outbreak of epidemics, focusing on plague in Soviet Central Asia.
Episode 36 – Epidemics, the Media, and Collective Memory with Katie Foss
Katie Foss (Middle Tennessee State University) talks about her recent work on the role of the media in shaping how we think and remember epidemics in U.S. history.
Episode 34 – Vaccinations in China with Mary Augusta Brazelton
Mary Brazelton (University of Cambridge) comes on the podcast to discuss vaccinations in China during the 20th century.
Episode 32 – Typhoid Fever and Epidemiology in Victorian England with Jacob Steere-Williams
Jacob Steere-Williams (College of Charleston) talks to Lee and Merle about typhoid fever and the development of epidemiology as a field of study.
Episode 30 – Smallpox, Slavery, and Vaccinations with Elise Mitchell
Elise Mitchell (NYU) talks about her work on smallpox vaccinations and forced inoculations for enslaved people in the Caribbean during the 17th and 18th centuries.
Episode 28 – The Great Hanoi Rat Hunt with Michael Vann
Michael Vann (California State University, Sacramento) joins Merle and Lee to talk about the rat hunt following a plague outbreak in colonial Vietnam.
Episode 26 – Playing Pandemic: Infectious Diseases in Games
Merle and Lee discuss the late antique Justinianic Plague (c. 541-750), their current topic of research.
Episode 24 – The Outbreak Narrative with Priscilla Wald
Priscilla Wald (Duke University) comes on the podcast to discuss the outbreak narrative, a common way through which we understand infectious diseases.
Episode 22 – Virology Research Developments with Vincent Racaniello
Vincent Racaniello (Columbia University) joins Merle and Lee to discuss developments in the field of virology over the past few decades.
Episode 20 – Archaeology and Infectious Diseases with Jordan Pickett
Jordan Pickett (U Georgia) comes on the podcast to discuss archaeology and potential signals of infectious diseases in archaeological finds.
Episode 18 – Medicine in the Middle East, 1830-1950 with Liat Kozma
Liat Kozma (Hebrew University of Jerusalem) discusses the development of medicine in the Middle East.
Episode 16 – Pandemics in Film with Robert Alpert
Robert Alpert (Fordham and Hunter College) discusses how pandemics are depicted in film, and what might we learn about the past from these films.
Episode 14 – The Influenza Pandemic of 1918 with Ida Milne
Chris De Wet joins Merle and Lee to discuss his work on using discourse analysis to better understand late antique disease through the eyes of the people who experienced them.
Episode 12 – Fact, Fiction, or Both? A Discourse Approach to Historical Disease with Chris de Wet
Chris De Wet joins Merle and Lee to discuss his work on using discourse analysis to better understand late antique disease through the eyes of the people who experienced them.
Episode 10 – The Third Pandemic
Christos Lynteris, a leading expert on the Third Plague Pandemic, discusses the Third Pandemic and its impacts during the 20th century.
Episode 8 – Studying Historical Epidemics
Merle and Lee discuss the late antique Justinianic Plague (c. 541-750), their current topic of research.
Episode 6 – COVID-19 and Inequality in the United States today
Michelle Smirnova, a sociologist (University of Missouri, Kansas City), joins Merle and Lee to discuss some of the present-day effects of COVID-19 in the US.
COVID-19 mortality
The media visibility of COVID-19 mortality Lee Mordechai / April 13, 2020 The current pandemic, like other disasters, reveals much about the workings of different societies. Mortality – the most significant (and easily quantifiable) measure… Read More »COVID-19 mortality
Episode 4 – The Black Death
Abigail Agresta joins the podcast to discuss the most infamous pandemic in history – the Black Death.
Episode 2 – The Justinianic Plague
Merle and Lee discuss the late antique Justinianic Plague (c. 541-750), their current topic of research.
Episode 0 – Introduction
An introductory episode in which Merle and Lee discuss the podcast and introduce themselves.