Today’s fights over public health regulations are fast turning the legal history of epidemics in the U.S. into hotly contested terrain. Drawing from his new book American Contagions, John Fabian Witt tells the story of the unexpected past, unwieldy present, and unsettling future of the American law of epidemics.

Speaker:

John Fabian Witt is Allen H. Duffy Class of 1960 Professor of Law at Yale Law School and author of many books, including American Contagions: Epidemics and the Law from Smallpox to COVID-19 (Yale University Press, 2020).

Lecture Series: The Long History of the Coronavirus Crisis.

The UCL Americas Research Network is delighted to announce a series of virtual lectures on the long history of the COVID-19 pandemic. A distinguished group of scholars will identify and discuss the historical roots of the current crisis – and the implications of this history for the next stage of the pandemic, as the vaccine rollout continues. A brief Q&A will follow all lectures, which are due to occur in March 2021. Convenor and chair: Stephen Colbrook.

Two other events are part of this series:

• Necropolis: Disease, Power, and Immunity in Antebellum New Orleans, with Kathryin Oliverius (Stanford) on March 8
• The Coronavirus Crisis in Brazil: An Initial Historical Assessment, with Marcos Cueto and Gabriel Lopes (both Fiocruz Foundation) on March 15