This course explores past pandemics as a way to think about how to best live through COVID-19 and prevent or minimize future pandemics. Through examining literature and film, we will analyze the psychosocial dimensions of pandemic. We will read a variety of texts including: histories, fiction (Bulgakov, Porter, Tolstoy, Colson Whitehead); short essays; and films (e.g., Contagion, Outbreak). How do science, medicine, and society interact in a time of pandemic? How do pandemics reveal social inequities, and how could we use this knowledge to decrease disparities? And why do people turn to the humanities and arts in times of pandemic?
