Episode 139 - Risk in Late Antiquity with Cam Grey
Cam Grey (University of Pennsylvania) comes on the podcast to discuss his book on risk in the late Roman world. The conversation begins with a discussion of how to define disasters and risk, before moving on to examine the ways in which risk was conceived and mitigated in the past. Cam speaks about the importance of putting back together the human and natural worlds, but is also aware of how the problem of scales - as many small stories often do not add up to larger ones. He raises several other points reflective of his research, for example how late disasters and risk in the present influence our understanding of their counterparts in the past, or the importance of the state and its role in managing and mitigating disasters. More broadly, Cam argues that late antiquity is important because of a goldilocks effect - it has just enough - and not too much - sources to be able to produce a robust but also a near-comprehensive analysis.
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1:09:55
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1:09:55
Episode 138 - Tuberculosis in Tanzania with Christoph Gradmann
Christoph Gradmann (University of Oslo) joins Merle and Lee to discuss his new book on 20th century tuberculosis in Tanzania seen through the records of Kibong'oto hospital, the main hospital that treated the disease in the region. The conversation begins with some context about Tanzania and its history during and after the colonial period. As a case study, Kibong'oto is important in two ways that comes across the discussion. First, it highlights tuberculosis as a 20th century disease, as opposed to the 19th century disease that appears in most textbooks. Second, it represents a story about biomedicine under difficult conditions - including patient resistance to certain treatments. In the discussion, Christoph points out some of the sources he uses - such as case books - and the changes in their quality over time. Before conclusion, Christoph also reflects on writing his book during Covid and goes into some detail in discussing Covid in Tanzania.
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1:00:40
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1:00:40
Episode 137 - Covid in Taiwan with Wayne Soon
Wayne Soon (University of Minnesota) joins the Infectious Historians to chat about his work on Taiwan. Wayne begins with a survey of Covid in Taiwan, highlighting state responses and how other countries featured in Taiwan during the pandemic. The conversation then moves back to examine the impacts of the SARS epidemic on Taiwan - including mask-wearing and mask production - and how those impacts would later influence the ways in which Taiwan responded to Covid. Wayne highlights Taiwan’s health insurance model as a source of strength in the Taiwanese response, and uses the Taiwanese case to argue more broadly that democracies, rather than only autocracies, can effectively deal with pandemics. Wayne finishes with some of the personal lessons he had learned during his work.
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1:03:12
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1:03:12
Episode 136 - Bioarchaeology with Jordan Wilson and Janet Kay
Jordan Wilson (Georgetown University) and Janet Kay (Independent Scholar) join Merle and Lee to talk about bioarchaeology in light of an article they wrote on the bioarchaeology of the first plague pandemic. The conversation starts off with an explanation of bioarchaeology, its methodologies (including bone identification!) and how does daily work in that field look like. Within the context of the joint paper, Jordan and Janet also explain how they see collaborations in general and working with historians more specifically. They also weigh in on how one might reconcile both disciplines, and speculate about collaborations in the future and their potential.
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58:19
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58:19
Episode 135 - Avian Flu with Natalie Porter
Natalie Porter (independent scholar) joins Merle and Lee to discuss her work on Avian Flu in Vietnam. Natalie begins with an explanation of what Avian (Bird) Flu is, alongside a survey of the culling that happens when epidemics occur among birds. Natalie explains how she came to work on this topic, and shares some of her own experiences as an anthropologist conducting research on this subject in Vietnam. She also analyzes the Vietnamese response to such outbreaks as divided between local, national and international levels. The conversation concludes with Natalie talking about her trajectory out of academia and into IT and her reflection on the differences between her old and new roles.
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