LYME/OLD LYME — On Wednesday, April 14, at 6 p.m., the Southeast Connecticut World Affairs Council (SECWAC) hosts Eileen Hunt Botting of the University of Notre Dame, who will discuss, “The Politics of Epidemics, from Thucydides to Mary Shelley to COVID-19,” in a Zoom presentation.
Registration required. The link to join the program will be emailed with your registration confirmation.
Botting will review our perceptions of pandemics through the writings of Greek historian and general Thucydides (of “The History of the Peloponnesian War” fame), Mary Shelley (of “Frankenstein” and “The Last Man” fame), and more contemporary writers like Mike Davis (“The Monster at Our Door” and “The Monster Enters”).
In her recent essay in “Current History”, Professor Botting points out that plague has been “depicted as escalating within wider and deeper patterns of human social and political conflict”, arguing that “we ought to pause and consider the responses of past thinkers to the contagions that beset them”.
In this way, perhaps, we may, to paraphrase Georges Santayana, avoid repeating past mistakes by learning from history, rather than being condemned to repeat it.
You can access her essay HERE.
Cost: Free for members, guests $20.
SECWAC will be using Zoom meetings for this presentation. https://scwac.
If you are new to Zoom virtual meetings and would like to learn more about how to join SECWAC, visit zoom.us for more information. Also, feel free to call 860-912-5718 for technical advice prior to the event. SECWAC will not be able to resolve issues during the meeting. A link to the recording will be shared via email following the meeting.