Join the College of Liberal Arts’ History Department for a lecture by David Carey, Jr., Doehler Chair, Professor of History, Loyola University:

“INDIGENOUS PANDEMIC PERSPECTIVES: LESSONS FROM A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE 1918 SPANISH INFLUENZA AND COVID-19 IN GUATEMALA”

By comparing the experiences and expertise of Indigenous peoples in Guatemala during the 1918 Spanish influenza and COVID-19 pandemics, Dr. Carey demonstrates how pandemics reveal the human capacity for social solidarity and local-level advocacy to meet basic needs. His goal is to highlight collective lessons from pandemics, ranging from shared successes and failures to locally and historically contingent responses and results. In addition to significant differences, such as resistance to state interventions during COVID-19 that were absent in 1918, parallel practices emerge in each pandemic, such as staying home with trusted people and centering wellbeing around Indigenous health and hygiene practices. His analysis centers a Native American perspective by searching for multivocal narratives and analyzing how historical asymmetries of power influenced health systems and the archives that document them.