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CITCEM hosts "Pandemics and History in the Age of Covid-19" initiative coordinated by Flávio Miranda
After the participation of several CITCEM researchers in the e-book
The Spanish Flu of 1918
After the participation of several CITCEM researchers in the e-book, CITCEM has made available, through its YouTube channel, another initiative, coordinated by Flávio Miranda, integrated researcher of this R&D Unit. The initiative is motivated by a necessary reflection on the impacts of the pandemic that is currently ravaging the world, leading many countries to a state of public health emergency. “Pandemics and History in the Covid-19 Era” is based on a series of informal interviews with historians and is intended, according to Flávio Miranda, “to provide interpretative tools for the general public” through an analysis of epidemic outbreaks in the long run. This is a way to contribute to a better understanding, by civil society, of the current pandemic in light of other crises and other contexts. The initiative will serve, still according to its coordinator, “not to predict the future in an enlightened way, but just to make the present a little less gloomy.”
According to the researcher, although the reality we are going through is different from others lived 700 or 100 years ago, for all the improvements in living conditions, the evolution of the various scientific fields, and the appearance of technologies that are constantly evolving, there are some reflections that can arise from the analysis of these experiences in the past. Some key questions guide the interviews: How different is the reality driven by Covid-19 from other pandemics noted throughout history? What responses have institutions, national and local, made to respond to similar public health crises? How have the pandemics of the past changed societies, economies, politics, and communities? And what can we expect from this crisis?
The interviewees are researchers who, at some point in their careers, have crossed paths with the study of pandemics and epidemics at different periods in history. So far, three interviews are available, covering mainly the Middle Ages and early modern periods. The videos of the interviews can be seen, respectively, through the following links:
Amândio Barros (ESE – IPP/CITCEM) “The pandemics that came by sea
Maria Amélia Campos (U. Coimbra) “As Colegiadas de Coimbra perante a Peste Negra” (“The Collegiate Schools of Coimbra and the Black Death”)
André Silva (CITCEM, FLUP) “The Black Death
Although there is no fixed schedule, it is intended to have a weekly regularity in the availability of these interviews.
Soon, and in partnership with Casa Comum da Universidade do Porto, it will also be available in podcast format through the site: https://up.pt/casacomum/. We invite the entire scientific community to participate in this initiative. Those interested should contact CITCEM or send an e-mail to fmiranda@letras.up.pt.