Exploring visual histories and public reactions to pandemics
History is fragmented. Reconstructing the lived realities of those who came before requires us to examine historical artifacts, from documents to photographs. The introduction of the camera in the 19th century shed light on unseen corners of the world and, in the context of pandemics, was a critical tool in the development of modern medicine – with photography practiced both as science and art.
A recent webinar by Sonya de Laat, the MSc Global Health program’s academic program advisor and curriculum coordinator, explores cultural histories of public reaction to disease outbreaks in the context of COVID-19. Combining archival photographs with interview quotes and popular culture produced during different pandemic and global disease outbreaks, de Laat delves into visual histories and their significance with respect to pandemics past and current.
Missed the webinar? Watch it here
de Laat traces threads between recent anti-lockdown protests taking place in the United States to anti-quarantine attacks over 150 years ago.
She argues that, while many are apprehensive about making assumptions in the present based on history, there are “echoes and traces” of the past that still have resonance today. “We’ve moved along in terms of knowledge but there’s still that recurrent pattern of people reacting in similar ways,” she explains.
Reactions to past and present outbreaks of disease reveal recurrence of similar responses, ranging from fear to frustration to resilience, she says. However, as de Laat explains, “these shouldn’t be seen as a failure to progress, but rather information to help us prepare for and innovate our way of out this and future pandemics.”
With an academic background is in anthropology and media studies, de Laat’s research interests span visual histories of humanitarian action, humanitarian health ethics, and visual research methods. She is an active member of the Canadian Network on Humanitarian Histories and Humanitarian Health Ethics (HHE) Network.
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