The podcast Infectious Historians is co-hosted by Merle Eisenberg and Lee Mordechai. It aims to give a flavor of past disease outbreaks while also discussing pressing questions during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Some episodes discuss a specific historical infectious disease as a way to understand the past—such as the Black Death, cholera, or new research on the Justinianic Plague—while others focus on the direct roots of the contemporary inequalities COVID-19 has brought to the fore in the U.S. and around the world today. Thematically, the guests have covered such diverse global topics as the impact of diseases on culture and gender in Hawaii to cholera’s intertwined relationship with colonialism and imperialism in modern Iran. The full list of our past episodes, together with additional content can be found on the episodes page. Infectious Historians is the first podcast to focus entirely on the history of infectious diseases by historians and has already been included in college-level syllabi. The podcast recorded on the First Anniversary of Infectious Historians that reflects on the COVID-19 pandemic is accessible on the left column. Recently, Kirsten Ostherr has been a guest, discussing the role of the humanities in the context of Covid-19 in an applied sense.
Historical material for general audiences
Explore the Humanities pathways that led to this project
Annapolis, Maryland, USA