Epidemic illnesses—not only a product of biology, but also social and cultural phenomena—are as old as cities themselves. The recent pandemic of COVID-19 has put into perspective the impact of epidemic illness on urban life, and exposed the vulnerabilities of the societies it ravages as much as the bodies it infects. How can epidemics help us understand urban environments? What insights from the outbreak, experience, and response to previous urban epidemics might inform our understanding of COVID-19?

William H. McNeill’s Plagues and Peoples is often considered a foundational work in the field of World History. At this moment, the term pandemic, usually with reference to the plague in Renaissance Italy and the “Spanish” influenza outbreak near the end of First World War, is now familiar to millions of sequestered families across the globe.

Dear Members and Friends of the ITH,

we are writing today to inform you that, with reference to a proposal put forward by the President, the ITH Board has decided, after intense deliberation, to postpone the ITH Conference 2020 by one year to September 2021.

Washing hands, mouth caps,, campaigns against infectuous diseases and for health and hygiene in general: all this can be found in the large collection of Chinese propaganda posters of the IISH and Stefan Landsberger. From the ‘Patriotic Health Campaign’ (1952) to the campaign against SARS and Avian Flu (2003), the images are online at https://chineseposters.net and https://www.flickr.com/photos/chinesepostersnet/

Historical narratives are foundational for most collective identities. The way any group relates to its history has implications for its political and social imaginaries and what is politically feasible. Given that importance, the political or social elite of a group tends to invest significant resources into the kind of historical narratives that are being cultivated. These narratives often suggest an appropriate behaviour that qualifies a person as a member of the respective group, be that a nation, a region or an ethnicity.

Annual Academic and Policy Symposium: Innovation through Migration at GHI PRO
Conveners: Ulf Brunnbauer (Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies & Regensburg University) and Andrea Westermann (GHI PRO)

The symposium will explore migration facilitation as situated between securing borders, solidarity networks, and economic interests or needs. It brings together Germany-based professionals from the academic, cultural, activist, and policy sectors as well as colleagues from California and other parts of the United States working in similar contexts.

Call for Articles für die historische Fachzeitschrift „Arbeit – Bewegung – Geschichte“
www.arbeit-bewegung-geschichte.de

Appel à communications pour la sixième rencontre du groupe Res-Hist (Réseaux & Histoire)
“Réseaux bipartis en histoire”
Aix-en-Provence, 21-22 octobre 2020