Medical Humanities Symposium “Imperial Disease: Epidemics, Colonialism, and History”
On November 13, Medical Humanities Professors Tim Newfield and Lakshmi Krishnan brought together three historians of health and illness to explore linkages between empire and the spread of infectious disease and between empire and the advent of modern epidemiology.
Organized by Professors Tim Newfield and Lakshmi Krishnan and moderated by Professor John McNeill, the Medical Humanities symposium “Imperial Diseases: Epidemics, Colonialism, and History” brought together three historians of health and illness—Jim Downs (Gettysburg College), Cindy Ermus (University of Nebraska), and Mary Webel (University of Pittsburgh)—to explore linkages between empire, the spread of infectious disease, and the advent of modern epidemiology. Histories of malaria, plague and sleeping sickness in the Americas and sub-Saharan Africa were recovered using a wide range of sources from centuries-old correspondence and medical reports to oral histories and historical linguistics. Despite being held on a chilly mid-November evening, there wasn’t a seat left in the Mortara Center.