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.
Lee
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.