Historical perspectives are proving to be of crucial importance during the COVID-19 pandemic. UBC’s historians have been busy lending their knowledge to a wide variety of news and media publications, on everything from the World Health Organization to hand-washing.
COVID-19 in Vancouver, BC, and Canada
The Conversation: Coronavirus: Racism and the long-term impacts of emergency measures in Canada
Laura Madokoro discusses the interaction of government policy and racism in Canada’s history in light of the recent racialization of the pandemic.
Photo: National Archives of Canada/THE CANADIAN PRESS
The Tyee: First Nations Asked for Help in Fighting COVID-19. They Were Ignored
Paige Raibmon was quoted in this article on First Nations communities and COVID-19. Raibmon explains the importance of local knowledge and community in building solutions for these communities.
Photo: Facebook
BC Today with Michelle Eliot: COVID-19: Bryan Adams’ Instagram rant, seniors’ long-term care homes.
Henry Yu discusses racism, misinformation, and Bryan Adams’ racist COVID-19 Instagram rant on the CBC BC Today podcast.
Photo: Marco Maas / CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)
CBC: ‘Hate has no place in British Columbia,’ says premier on rise in anti-Asian crimes
Henry Yu was quoted in this CBC article on the rise in anti-Asian hate crime in BC. Yu reviews the history of Asian discrimination in the province.
Photo: (Mike McArthur/CBC)
COVID-19 and China
Salt Spring Forum: China and Pandemics: A historically-informed discussion
Timothy Brook discussed China’s response to COVID-19 and the history of China’s international relations and role in world politics with The Salt Spring Forum.
Photo: Timothy Brook, Salt Spring Forum
China and the Coronavirus: A Roundtable Assessment
Watch a webcast of the March 4th roundtable on the political, social, and cultural impacts of COVID-19 in China, featuring Timothy Brook and Leo Shin.
Photo: https://hksi.ubc.ca/webcast-china-and-the-coronavirus/
COVID-19 and international communications
Brookings TechStream: Why the U.S. needs a pandemic communications unit
Heidi Tworek lends her expertise to the issue of public communications during the pandemic, and the methods used (or not used) to circulate information, quell rumours, and communicate.
Photo: https://www.brookings.edu/techstream/why-the-u-s-needs-a-pandemic-communications-unit/
Financial Times: The world needs a new, depoliticised WHO
Heidi Tworek’s research on interwar communications was used extensively in this Financial Times article on the role of the WHO in the pandemic.
Photo: Keystone/Corbis
Financial Times: AlphaVid- On trusting public health communications
Heidi Tworek was later interviewed by the Financial Times over video chat about the history of the WHO and other healthcare organizations, and their role in international politics.
Photo: Heidi Tworek
COVID-19 and science, medicine and hygiene throughout history
Newsweek: Why Historians (Sort of) Love Pandemics
Timothy Brook authored this opinion piece on the interaction of genomic sequencing and pandemics, and how historians use the scientific evidence of disease.
Photo: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in January 2020. (CDC via The Associated Press)
Vox: The evolution of hand-washing, explained by a historian
Peter Ward was interviewed by Vox on perspectives on hygiene and hand-washing throughout history.
Photo: The Clean Body by Peter Ward
MotherJones: The Pandemic Has Made At Least One Thing Clear: It’s Time to Get on the Bidet Train, America
This Mother Jones article references Peter Ward on the history of the device. Ward explains the bidet’s origins in 18th century France, and what its origins mean for its use today.
Photo: Mother Jones illustration; Getty
WBUR: A (Surprisingly) Brief History Of Handwashing
Peter Ward participated in this historical discussion on the history of handwashing and health. Ward analyzes the history of hand-washing from the early modern period to modern day.
Photo by Koen Van Weel/AFP
Cited: Pandemic Amnesia
Cited, a podcast sponsored by UBC’s Public History Initiative and the Social Science and Humanities Research Council, discusses public memory around pandemics- how they are remembered, but also how they are just as often forgotten.
Photo: Harris & Ewing photographers / Public domain
UBC: Pandemics and History – a roundtable on COVID-19 and its historical connections
A roundtable from four UBC history professors examining the historical narratives surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. Heidi Tworek, Tim Brook, Robert Brain, and John Christopoulos discuss how history has been impacted by pandemics, how they’re remembered, and how that memory is impacting our present.
