Eileen Hunt Botting presents“The Politics of Epidemics, from Thucydides to Mary Shelley to COVID-19”
When: Wednesday, April 14, 2021, 6:00 p.m.
Where: Registration required. The link to join us will be emailed with your registration confirmation. We will be using Zoom meetings. https://scwac.
If you are new to Zoom virtual meetings and would like to learn more about how to join us, visit zoom.us for more information. Also, feel free to call us at 860-912-5718 for technical advice prior to the event. We will not be able to resolve issues during the meeting. A link to the recording will be shared via email following the meeting.
Presenter: Eileen Hunt Botting, University of Notre Dame
The Topic: Eileen Hunt 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
Leave a Reply