Trade, Production, and Disease in the Middle Ages

In the late medieval period, trade and production created conditions conducive to disease spread, and these diseases, in turn, also had implications for economic development. Typically, historians have tended to emphasise the major redistributive effects of the Black Death – the idea that an affliction which killed large amounts of people but kept resources intact created post-epidemic ‘bonuses’ for those that survived. Nowadays, however, we are more receptive to the idea that (a) not all social and demographic groups benefitted equally from this outbreak, and (b) epidemics had direct economic costs, rendering the previous idea of ‘intact resources’ incorrect

Erratum:Mark Bailey, After the Black Death: Economy, Society, and the Law in Fourteenth-Century England. The Ford Lectures for 2019 (Oxford: Oxford University Press (2021) (Social History of Medicine. DOI: 10.1093/shm/hkab058)

Mark Bailey, After the Black Death: Economy, Society, and the Law in Fourteenth-Century England. The Ford Lectures for 2019. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021. Pp. 384. ISBN 9780192599735. By Daniel R. Curtis Social History of Medicine. doi:10.1093/shm/hkab058 "Due to a copyediting error, "UK" was erroneously used instead of "England" throughout the paper. This has now been corrected online. The publisher apologises for the error".</p

Plague and Epidemic Disease in the Northern Parts of the Low Countries, 1349-1450:Evidence, Limitations, and Implications

This article reviews what we know about plague and other epidemic diseases in the northern Low Countries before 1450 - the evidence, its limitations, and its implications. I make three observations. First, sources suggest that the Black Death was severe in central inland areas, although we lack conclusive evidence for its impact in the county of Holland. Second, the recurring epidemics occurring in the northern Low Countries were often severe - in certain localities reaching death rates of 20-25 percent. In this respect, Holland was as afflicted as other areas in the Low Countries. Third, while the outbreak of 1439 was a notable exception, most epidemics in the northern Low Countries rarely occurred during or just after grain price spikes, suggesting that food crises were not major drivers of epidemic disease in the period 1349-1450. I support further attempts to obtain empirical evidence for the mortality effects of epidemics in the medieval Low Countries. Ultimately, this information can be the foundation behind insights into other important long-term narratives in social, demographic, and economic history in the region.</p

Infectious Inequalities

This book explores societal vulnerabilities highlighted within cinema and develops an interpretive framework for understanding the depiction of societal responses to epidemic disease outbreaks across cinematic history. Drawing on a large database of twentieth- and twenty-first-century films depicting epidemics, the study looks into issues including trust, distrust, and mistrust; different epidemic experiences down the lines of expertise, gender, and wealth; and the difficulties in visualizing the invisible pathogen on screen. The authors argue that epidemics have long been presented in cinema as forming a point of cohesion for the communities portrayed, as individuals and groups “from below” represented as characters in these films find solidarity in battling a common enemy of elite institutions and authority figures. Throughout the book, a central question is also posed: “cohesion for whom?”, which sheds light on the fortunes of those characters that are excluded from these expressions of collective solidarity. This book is a valuable reference for scholars and students of film studies and visual studies as well as academic and general readers interested in topics of films and history, and disease and society

Infectious Inequalities

This book explores societal vulnerabilities highlighted within cinema and develops an interpretive framework for understanding the depiction of societal responses to epidemic disease outbreaks across cinematic history. Drawing on a large database of twentieth- and twenty-first-century films depicting epidemics, the study looks into issues including trust, distrust, and mistrust; different epidemic experiences down the lines of expertise, gender, and wealth; and the difficulties in visualizing the invisible pathogen on screen. The authors argue that epidemics have long been presented in cinema as forming a point of cohesion for the communities portrayed, as individuals and groups “from below” represented as characters in these films find solidarity in battling a common enemy of elite institutions and authority figures. Throughout the book, a central question is also posed: “cohesion for whom?”, which sheds light on the fortunes of those characters that are excluded from these expressions of collective solidarity. This book is a valuable reference for scholars and students of film studies and visual studies as well as academic and general readers interested in topics of films and history, and disease and society

From disease incubation to disease receipt:Representing epidemics and race in pre- and post-second world war American cinema (1931–1939 and 1950–1962)

This article analyses continuities and changes in how disease has been instrumentalised in cinema as a way of conceptualizing race—comparing five films depicting epidemics produced before the Second World War and five after. In the 1930s films, non-white populations often passively accept assistance in dealing with epidemic disease—a paternalistic white savior narrative—but not always with “gratitude”, and sometimes direct resistance. Here, epidemics take root in physical sites of economic “underdevelopment”, perpetuated further by perceived “premodern” cultural practices demarcated down the lines of race or ethnicity, and intersect with other gendered and socio-economic categories. After the war, while some cinematic tropes such as the “white knight” continue, other narratives emerge including a shift in emphasis away from the Othered environment as the nexus of disease (the disease’s “incubation”), and towards greater alarm about the appearance of disease within recipient, frequently white, communities

From disease incubation to disease receipt:Representing epidemics and race in pre- and post-second world war American cinema (1931–1939 and 1950–1962)

This article analyses continuities and changes in how disease has been instrumentalised in cinema as a way of conceptualizing race—comparing five films depicting epidemics produced before the Second World War and five after. In the 1930s films, non-white populations often passively accept assistance in dealing with epidemic disease—a paternalistic white savior narrative—but not always with “gratitude”, and sometimes direct resistance. Here, epidemics take root in physical sites of economic “underdevelopment”, perpetuated further by perceived “premodern” cultural practices demarcated down the lines of race or ethnicity, and intersect with other gendered and socio-economic categories. After the war, while some cinematic tropes such as the “white knight” continue, other narratives emerge including a shift in emphasis away from the Othered environment as the nexus of disease (the disease’s “incubation”), and towards greater alarm about the appearance of disease within recipient, frequently white, communities

Vicarious Shame and Guilt

Participants recalled instances when they felt vicariously ashamed or guilty for another’s wrongdoing and rated their appraisals of the event and resulting motivations. The study tested aspects of social association that uniquely predict vicarious shame and guilt. Results suggest that the experience of vicarious shame and vicarious guilt are distinguishable. Vicarious guilt was predicted by one’s perceived interdependence with the wrongdoer (e.g. high interpersonal interaction), an appraisal of control over the event, and a motivation to repair the other person’s wrongdoing. Vicarious shame was predicted by the relevance of the event to a shared social identity with the wrongdoer, an appraisal of self-image threat, and a motivation to distance from the event. Implications for intergroup behavior and emotion are discussed

Dietary treatment of Crohn’s disease: perceptions of families with children treated by exclusive enteral nutrition, a questionnaire survey

Background: Diet is strongly associated with the aetiology of Crohn’s Disease (CD) and exclusive enteral nutrition (EEN) is the primary induction treatment in paediatric CD. This study explored opinions around the use of EEN and alternative novel, solid food-based diets (SFDs) expressed by paediatric patients with CD, previously treated with EEN and their parents. Methods: This anonymous questionnaire surveyed families of CD patients treated with EEN over 1 year. Two questionnaire forms were completed; one asking the patients’ opinions and another referring to their main carer. This questionnaire explored participants’ demographic characteristics; acceptability of a repeat EEN course to treat a future flare (EEN repeat); their opinion on how difficult EEN would be compared to an example SFD; and their intention to participate in a future clinical trial assessing the therapeutic efficacy of an SFD in CD. Results: Forty-one families of CD patients were approached with 29 sending replies (71%). Most of our participants were positive on completing another EEN course, however the majority would choose an SFD alternative (Patients: 66, Parents:72%). Both patients and their parents rated EEN to be more difficult to adhere to compared to an example SFD (p &lt; 0.05), and their ratings were strongly correlated (EEN:r = 0.83, SFD:r = 0.75, p &lt; 0.001). The majority of our respondents would agree to participate in a clinical trial assessing an SFD’s effectiveness (Patients:79, Parents:72%) for the management of active CD. Conclusions: While patients with CD and their families would accept an EEN repeat, the majority would prefer an SFD alternative. CD families surveyed are supportive of the development of solid food-based dietary treatments

Simple Models for Turbulent Self-Regulation in Galaxy Disks

We propose that turbulent heating, wave pressure and gas exchanges between different regions of disks play a dominant role in determining the preferred, quasi-equilibrium, self-similar states of gas disks on large-scales. We present simple families of analytic, thermohydrodynamic models for these global states, which include terms for turbulent pressure and Reynolds stresses. Star formation rates, phase balances, and hydrodynamic forces are all tightly coupled and balanced. The models have stratified radial flows, with the cold gas slowly flowing inward in the midplane of the disk, and with the warm/hot phases that surround the midplane flowing outward. The models suggest a number of results that are in accord with observation, as well as some novel predictions, including the following. 1) The large-scale gas density and thermal phase distributions in galaxy disks can be explained as the result of turbulent heating and spatial couplings. 2) The turbulent pressures and stresses that drive radial outflows in the warm gas also allow a reduced circular velocity there. This effect was observed by Swaters, Sancisi and van der Hulst in NGC 891, a particularly turbulent edge-on disk. The models predict that the effect should be universal in such disks. 3) They suggest that a star formation rate like the phenomenological Schmidt Law is the natural result of global thermohydrodynamical balance, and may not obtain in disks far from equilibrium. (Abridged)Comment: 37 pages, 1 gif figure, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa