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Pandemic Politics and the Viral Underclass
Using the HIV/AIDS, Covid-19 and monkeypox epidemics (as well as the emerging shigella epidemic) this lecture will explain how pandemics are not driven by biology alone but by twelve social vectors such as racism, ableism, and even the law. Drawing upon a decade of research as a journalist and public health scholar which culminated in his book The Viral Underclass: The Human Toll When Inequality and Disease Collide, Dr. Thrasher will explain how avoiding or ending any pandemic requires undoing the harms of these ongoing social vectors which are embedded in so many societies regardless, often regardless of political parties. The humanities play a large role in how the public, scientists and politicians narrate and respond to pandemics. Dr. Thrasher will also discuss how writers conceive of "viral media" and how artists depict viruses in film and literature affect science and policy.
