32616

WiSe 20/21: COVID-19, Dust Bowl, and Katrina: Historical & Sociological Perspectives on Disasters and Human Responses

Jessica Gienow-Hecht, Harald Wenzel

Information for students

Students registering this course as part of an interdisziplinary module 1 or 2 must also register for the Reading Course 32616L-W20.

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Topic: The recent COVID-19 pandemic has put into sharp focus on the human capability – global, transnational, national, regional and local - to cope with crises. Capability has been deemed by some scholars as the crucial difference between disasters that can be contained, on the one hand, and scenarios in which control has been at least partially lost: catastrophes, pandemics, famines, droughts and wars may serve as examples. ----- Course: In this interdisciplinary course we will investigate the history of disasters such as pandemics, floods, earthquakes and droughts with a focus on the United States but also allowing for glimpses beyond. We are particularly interested in both political and social learning processes triggered by them, including the ability to forget, revitalize and relativize. In the final analysis, disasters affect people as much as government: the survival of the individual human being is at stake. Not surprisingly then, historians accentuate the – emerging and increasing – role of the state in the history of disasters abroad and at home while sociologists examine how disasters affected people and social communities, notably how they coped over time and across space. ----- Questions: Central questions of this course include: How have people and the state fared in such crises? How did controlled efforts to prevent, mitigate and sustain respond to such crises, develop over time? What have been the most significant changes in the resiliencies and vulnerabilities of U.S. Americans across gender, race, and class? Given the complexity of the historical, political and social processes implied in this topic we will resort to case studies – starting with a historical paradigm of disasters outside of North America, the Lisbon earthquake of 1755, and ending with the COVID-19 crisis. ----- Requirements: Students from the fields of sociology, history as well as the humanities and social sciences at large are very welcome. All students need a blackboard account. For each individual class, students will compose short précis (no longer than 5 lines) including a critical question relating to the respective reading. Précis need to be uploaded on Blackboard on Monday evening prior to the class. No more than two no-shows. At the end of the semester, students are required to compose a reflective think piece addressing a topic of their choice, depending on the credit (Pass/Fail or Grade). close