Covid – Media and Epidemics (MEDEP)

Infection Within the Ranks: Examining the Way Conspiracies Complicate Public Responses to Pandemics, as Seen in the ‘Russian Flu’ Pandemic (1889-1895)

“As the epidemic developed, theories can be found which suggest that influenza was not an individual infection, but in fact simply an ‘influence’, an ‘electrical state of atmosphere’ with the ability to ‘exercise influence’ on the nervous system.” ‘A Cure for Influenza’ (1891). Cartoon satirising erroneous cures suggested during the 1889 influenza pandemic. Wellcome Collection/Wikimedia.ContinueContinue reading “Infection Within the Ranks: Examining the Way Conspiracies Complicate Public Responses to Pandemics, as Seen in the ‘Russian Flu’ Pandemic (1889-1895)”

Meet the Team: Ching Chi Chan

“This was the time where Pfeiffer’s bacillus was heavily discussed in relation to influenza, yet in both fiction and primary sources, you find people not wanting anything to do with it.” What are the main epidemics that your team focuses on? I am a third year within the Bachelor of Advanced Humanities, studying English Literature.ContinueContinue reading “Meet the Team: Ching Chi Chan”

Performing Epidemics: Contagion Cabaret

“Our Mistress of Ceremonies, with her gas mask and red balloon, strode across empty land and streetscapes around Oxford, whilst speaking with great intimacy to us, her captured, quarantined audience, scattered as we were, across the world.” The post-COVID-19 iteration of the Contagion Cabaret When COVID 19 struck in 2020, I had the unworthy thoughtContinueContinue reading “Performing Epidemics: Contagion Cabaret”

COVID-19 Experiences Alchemized Through Arts: A Case Study on Script Writing and Filmmaking with High School Students

“…the narratives evolved from personal anecdotes into complex stories enriched with interpersonal tension.” Making a timeline of the pandemic involved remembering the COVID-19 timeline and adding three personal events and two events that happened in the media. The main idea of this exercise was to remember personal events that can become a story but alsoContinueContinue reading “COVID-19 Experiences Alchemized Through Arts: A Case Study on Script Writing and Filmmaking with High School Students”

The Public Reception to TV Drama as a COVID-19 Information Source

“Film and TV can offer nuanced perspectives on complex issues and emotions that are often hard to grasp through traditional information channels”. Intensive care hospital fighting Covid-19 in Pesaro, Italy. Photo by Alberto Giuliani, Wikimedia Commons. March 19, 2020. As the most recent pandemic in history, COVID-19 had the unique position of being documented byContinueContinue reading “The Public Reception to TV Drama as a COVID-19 Information Source”

Meet the Team: Alexandria Vander Velde

“It will be interesting to see if and how COVID-19 presents itself in alternative forms of media in the future through literature, film, and art as both a roll-on effect from the pandemic and to communicate the significance of the event to future generations.” What are the main epidemics that your team focuses on? IContinueContinue reading “Meet the Team: Alexandria Vander Velde”

In Sickness and in Health: How the UK Media Urges Britain to Stick by Ailing NHS and Medical Staff

Photo by Nicolas J Leclercq on Unsplash. Two things struck me when researching media reporting on the medical profession in the UK: the number of issues in the National Health Service (NHS) and the fact that these issues have gone untreated for so long. I analysed articles from 2000 to 2024, and the problems inContinueContinue reading “In Sickness and in Health: How the UK Media Urges Britain to Stick by Ailing NHS and Medical Staff”

Meet the Team: Alyssa Nunnink

“Some [doctors] felt extremely burnt out at the height of the pandemic, while others remember being protected by stress by camaraderie amongst colleagues.” What are the main epidemics that your team focuses on? As part of the UK team for the Media and Epidemics project, Gareth Dickson and I are investigating contemporary perspectives on COVID-19.ContinueContinue reading “Meet the Team: Alyssa Nunnink”

New Colds for Old

‘Old Colds for New’, Punch, 18th January, 1890, p. 33. The Media and Epidemics project seeks to document, from historical and contemporary as well as trans-disciplinary and trans-regional perspectives, the role of media and technologies of communication in the making and management of epidemic outbreaks. The investigation of the British team focuses upon the transmission ofContinueContinue reading “New Colds for Old”