Fake News – Media and Epidemics (MEDEP)

George Gissing, the Fin de Siècle, and Social Change: Understandings of the ‘Russian Influenza’

“Through realism, Gissing exhibits both sides of a cultural shift, with depictions of a man weathered down by metropolis living in New Grub Street (1891), and a yearning for a simpler time with The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft (1902).” Nineteenth-century Grub Street, as depicted in Robert Chambers Book of Days (1864), Wikimedia. This isContinueContinue reading “George Gissing, the Fin de Siècle, and Social Change: Understandings of the ‘Russian Influenza’”

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: 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”