by Paige Kline
On Nov. 18, 2024, Stevenson University faculty members from the English, History, and Psychology department will rally together to deliver a panel to promote interdisciplinary perspectives on plagues that goes beyond historical boundaries. The event will be located at the Phillip A. Zaffere (PAZ) Library from 3:30pm to 5p.m. and will be open to Stevenson students who want to attend. Students who choose to attend will be provided a chance to think about how the Black Death, AIDS, and COVID-19 can interconnect while they listen to Dr. Laura Smith, Dr. Emily Brown, and Prof. Kathryn Hall. The discussion will be moderated by the Chair of the English Department, Aaron Chandler.
The professors are going to contribute insightful information on the comparative social, emotional, and aesthetic effects plagues have. Prof. Hall will highlight social and cultural impacts of the Black Death, Dr. Smith will explore literary responses on the AIDS crisis, and Dr. Brown will approach the psychological dimensions of COVID-19.
An important goal to be achieved by panelists is for students to obtain knowledge on the connections and transhistorical components of the three plagues.
“I hope they make transhistorical connections and see patterns across the three, perhaps forming some insights about how plagues cause or accelerate major changes in societies—or make visible fissures that were already forming,” Dr. Smith wrote.
Dr. Smith will highlight the “major changes in society prompt by the AIDS epidemic, like the changes in FDA drug approval processes, the rise in homophobia, and the simultaneous rise in LGBTQ visibility through organizations like ACT-UP.”
Dr. Brown expanded on the idea and contributed to what social changes will be looked at in the panel.
She explained that it would go beyond death and will explore, “aspects such as education, development, social attitudes, and relationships.”
Dr. Brown also gave a detailed definition of how the plagues might be defined.
Dr. Brown wrote, “We will define them in ways consistent with historians and public health organizations such as by providing symptoms, associated deaths, estimated start date and suspected cause.”
The three images selected in the flyer that promoted the panel highlight societal and emotional effects of plagues. Covid-19 isolated the community and required for people to wear masks and to limit where they went, the Black Death brought out pain and sadness as people lost loved ones, and AIDS victims were often targeted by slurs. The sign, “FIGHT AIDS NOT ITS VICTIMS,” was a way to portray the societal impact on individuals AIDS and how they reacted, combative and violent.
Dr. Smith shared on a personal level a connection that addressed a few societal and emotional effects of plagues prior to the event, more specifically in relation to AIDS.
“I saw firsthand in adults, friends, and even my own parents how fear and lack of knowledge produce mistrust, discrimination, and division. People I had known and trusted became disgusted by and hateful to–and fearful of–the LGBTQ community and it seemed so wrong and confusing to me, so I’ve always been interested in digging into that space,” Dr. Smith wrote.
Dr. Smith furthermore addressed what value it holds towards the specific audience of the students at Stevenson.
In an email she wrote, “Looking at COVID in relation to two prior plagues may allow us to analyze our own experience and see our society in a new way, with the benefit of the perspective of the past.”
Analyzing firsthand experiences will expose different societal and emotional effects of the three plagues. While students did not live through the Black Death or experience AIDS firsthand, they will have information about the two plagues that can be connected to the plague they did live through.
To learn more, attend the panel and hear more about the unique perspectives on plagues.