Viral Histories: The Anthropology of Epidemics, Pandemics, and Contagion

This course will offer a history of pandemics, virology, vaccines, and epidemics as distinct but inter-related facets of the rise of biomedicine. Beginning with the discovery of small-pox inoculation, which smeared the pus of humans or animals into small cuts in the arm, and ending with COVID, the course will offer a deep dive into how viruses and pathogens have been understood, spread, and halted. We will examine epidemics of the flu, polio, and HIV, as well as fascinating biomedical issues such as discovery and use of tissue cultures, the use of animals in research, and the use of disenfranchised groups for research. These will be contextualized in terms of structural issues of race, class and gender; the economics of healthcare; and the politics of scientific and military research.