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When we decided last summer to create an undergraduate course about pandemics, we faced skepticism. Weren\u2019t students and instructors tired of the COVID-19 pandemic? And would looking at pandemics from the perspective of numerous disciplines make it hard to address the topic with depth, or would we achieve a sense of cohesion?<\/p>\n
As an anthropologist, a biologist and a historian, we know that infectious diseases are about a lot more than biology and medicine. Historically, epidemics and pandemics have shaped the world around us, from\u00a0mask-wearing habits during plague times<\/a>\u00a0to the impact of\u00a0polio on the Toronto school system of the 1950s<\/a>.<\/p>\n And, just like COVID-19 has affected people differently depending on where they live and work or what social supports they have, so have epidemics of the past. The tragedy of our\u00a0long-term care system isn\u2019t new<\/a>\u00a0and understanding how infectious diseases might\u00a0emerge and spread<\/a>\u00a0\u2014\u00a0and therefore how to contain them<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 is a complex matter involving everything from the science of contagion and human behaviour to social systems and the social determinants of health.<\/p>\n At the University of Guelph, we created \u201cPandemics: Culture, Science and Society.\u201d This multidisciplinary course was offered in a virtual format and open to students as an elective in all programs and to alumni as a complete series of twelve weekly panels per semester.<\/p>\n We initially intended for this to be offered in fall 2020 only, but we quickly realized the value of our approach. We decided to run the course again in winter 2021, with a focus on COVID-19 research and creative projects that emerged at our university, from the sciences and the social sciences to business and the arts. Over two semesters, we engaged with 80 experts and researchers, as well as 600 undergraduates and 300 alumni.<\/p>\n Promotional poster for the course on pandemics convened by a biologist, historian and anthropologist. COVID Mona Lisa by Yaroslav Danylchenko, FAL<\/p><\/div>\n Themes for weekly panels included knowledge and misinformation; pandemics in history and the arts; animals, environments and pandemics; and community, agency and resilience. Students and alumni learned about disease modelling, the impacts of COVID-19 on our food systems, pandemics in the ancient world and the biology of infectious diseases. Each week, panellists \u2014 faculty, post-doctoral fellows and other experts \u2014 gave short presentations, followed by moderated discussion.<\/p>\n We convened expert panels from departments of population medicine, integrative biology, geography and computer science to economics, sociology and anthropology, fine arts and music, history and others, engaging multiple disciplines at a time.<\/p>\n Panellists helped students and alumni sift through and make sense of the COVID-19 \u201cinfodemic<\/a>.\u201d Public health and media experts, mathematicians, biologists, psychologists and philosophers were able to answer questions on the usefulness of masks, suggest ways for students to navigate stressful disagreements with roommates or relatives about COVID-19, and help the class understand how testing models and vaccines were developed. Every week added another layer to class discussions.<\/p>\n As course organizers, we were learners too. Through class discussions, we learned how COVID-19 was affecting all of us \u2014 students, alumni and panellists \u2014 as many shared some of their experiences. The course demonstrated the ways in which academic knowledge and personal experience can relate and interact with each other.<\/p>\n We know that\u00a0people experience and explain epidemics<\/a>\u00a0and pandemics in ways that are shaped by existing economic, political, technological and social circumstances and tensions. As anthropologist Lisa J. Hardy explains, to \u201cunderstand social and political responses to the global pandemic, it is essential\u00a0that we continue to investigate xenophobia, inequality and racism alongside the biological impact<\/a>\u201d because the effects of pandemics are unequal and shaped by societal divisions. This became one of the main themes of the course.<\/p>\n The course allowed us to explore our shared and individual experiences in living through COVID-19. Participants heard how different the experience of the pandemic has been based on factors such as sex and gender, socio-economic status, race and ethnicity, geographic location (for instance, rural versus urban), political circumstance, mental and physical health status and many other factors.<\/p>\n We learned about the resilience of the Canadian\u00a0food system<\/a>\u00a0from farm to plate, as well as the ongoing challenges such as the reliance on migrant workers and bottlenecks in distribution. We gained insights into the experiences of\u00a0grocery store workers<\/a>,\u00a0persons with disabilities<\/a>,\u00a0pets and their people<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0musicians<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/UNIV2020Pandemic.jpeg\")
From disease modelling to pandemics in art<\/strong><\/h4>\n
Personal and virtual connections<\/strong><\/h4>\n