果冻影院

Antebellum New Orleans was the nation鈥檚 鈥榥ecropolis,鈥� with yellow fever routinely killing about eight percent of the population. With little epidemiological understanding of mosquito-borne viruses, a person鈥檚 only protection against the scourge was falling sick with and surviving the disease.

Over time, repeated epidemics generated a hierarchy of immunocapital whereby 鈥榓cclimated鈥� survivors leveraged their immunity for social, economic, and political power, while 鈥榰nacclimated鈥� individuals languished in social and professional purgatory. By drawing parallels between the story of yellow fever in antebellum New Orleans and the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccines, Kathryn Olivarius provides keen insights into the politics of our present moment, when听immunoprivilege has become firmly embedded in discussions about easing lockdowns and reopening the economy.听

Speaker:

Kathryn Olivarius is an Assistant Professor of History at Stanford and is an affiliated member of the Stanford Center for Law and History. She is the author of the forthcoming听鈥�Necropolis: Disease, Power, and Capitalism in the Cotton Kingdom.鈥�

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Lecture Series: The Long History of the Coronavirus Crisis.

The 果冻影院 Americas Research Network is delighted to announce a series of virtual lectures on the long history of the COVID-19 pandemic. A distinguished group of scholars will identify and discuss the historical roots of the current crisis - and the implications of this history for the next stage of the pandemic, as the vaccine rollout continues. A brief Q&A will follow all lectures, which are due to occur in March 2021. Convenor and chair: Stephen Colbrook.

Two other events are part of this series:

• The Coronavirus Crisis in Brazil: an Initial Historical Assessment, with Marcos Cueto and Gabriel Lopes (both Fiocruz Foundation) on March 15
• American Contagions: Epidemics and the Law from Smallpox to COVID-19, with John Fabian Witt (Yale) on March 22