Instructor: Professor William C. Summers, M.D., Ph.D.
Office Hours: By appointment
email to instructor: (click here)
Monday/Wednesday 230-345 pm; Room TBA
Themes: Interaction of epidemic diseases and society. The responses of government, medicine, and the public to the threat or actual presence of widespread contagious diseases.
Through readings of contemporary accounts of epidemics the seminar will try to understand the historical setting in which a given epidemic disease occurred, the social and medical responses to the epidemic, the demographic and long-term consequences of the epidemic, and the possible relevance of events connected with one epidemic to those of subsequent epidemics. The notion of major epidemics as one of the key contingencies of history will be critically examined. The changing responses of societies and governments to epidemics will be considered and the reasons for those responses and changes will be sought.
Albert Camus, The Plague, Vintage Paperback; Reissue edition (May 7, 1991)
Charles E. Rosenberg, The Cholera Years: The United States in 1832, 1849, and 1866, University of Chicago Press; Paperback Reprint edition (September 1987)
Randy Shilts, And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic, Introduction by William Greider, St. Martin's Press; Paperback:(April 9, 2000)
John M. Barry, The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History, Penguin Paperback (Revised 2005).
André Gide, The Immoralist (Translated by David Watson), Penguin Classic (September 2001).
Reading Packet: Available for purchase at DocuPrint & Imaging, 27 Whitney Ave --- corner of Whitney and Grove.
3 Sept.. Introduction to the seminar.
8 Sept. Disease in Global Terms: McNeill, Plagues and Peoples: Introduction in Reading Packet;
also available online via the Resources File for the course on ClassesV2
10 Sept. Library Project.:
15 Sept. Plague: Principal reading: Boccaccio, The Decameron (Introduction, in Reading Packet).
17 Sept. Plague: Principal reading: Boccaccio, The Decameron (Classroom Presentations).
22 Sept. Library Project.
24 Sept. Plague: Principal reading: Camus: The Plague
29 Sept. Plague: Principal reading: Camus: The Plague
1 Oct. Smallpox in India: Reading Packet: David Arnold, "Smallpox: the Body of the Goddess."
6 Oct. Cholera: Principal reading: Rosenberg, The Cholera Years
8 Oct. Cholera: Principal reading: Rosenberg, The Cholera Years
13 Oct Spanish Flu: Principal Reading: Barry, The Great Influenza
15 Oct. Spanish Flu: Principal Reading: Barry, The Great Influenza
18 Oct. All day trip to NYC: Tenement Museum (8:00 am - 10:30 pm)
20 Oct. Spanish Flu: Principal Reading: Barry, The Great Influenza [Also: Midterm Paper Due]
22 Oct. Midterm Paper Critiques
27 Oct. Tuberculosis: Principal Reading: Gide, The Immoralist
29 Oct. Tuberculosis: Principal Reading: Gide, The Immoralist
3 Nov. AIDS: Principal reading: Shilts, And the Band Played On
5 Nov. AIDS: Principal reading: Shilts, And the Band Played On; [Film showing at 9:00 pm location TBA]
10 Nov. AIDS: Frontline Documentary: The Age of AIDS
12 Nov. AIDS: Reading Packet: Helen Epstein. "The Mystery of AIDS in South Africa," NY Review of Books, Vol. 47, No.12, July 20, 2000; and "The Hidden Cause of AIDS." NY Review of Books Vol. 49, No. 8, May 9, 2002; (Both available online at www.nybooks.com)
17 Nov. Avian Flu: 1) CDC Info Packet; 2) "Pandemic Threat Posed by Avian Influenza A Viruses"
18 Nov. SARS: Principal reading: [MMRW reports and commentaries in Reading Packet] [Commentator: Susan Jakes; tentative]
1 Dec. Avian Flu: Connecticut Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Plan (Draft)
3 Dec. Global Discussion: "Design an Epidemic"
8 Dec. Final Paper Due
Midterm paper: 5-6 page paper on an assigned topic: due 20 October 08
Final Paper: 3000 words on your favorite epidemic. Due 5:00 PM, 8 Dec 08 (Monday)