HIST-3630H: Plagues, Poxes and Pandemics

Instructor: Kevin Sienna (ksiena@trentu.ca)

Course Code: HIST-3630H-A

When Taken: Winter 2023

Major Paper: The British Government’s Response to the “Mad Cow” Epidemic

Course Notes: Plagues, Poxes and Pandemics_ Disease from the Black Death to COVID

This was a third year history class which focused each week on a different disease, focusing primarily on the diseases’ s effects in humans, and what response government and society had to the emergence and spread of the disease.

The conclusion that I drew from this course if  that while diseases are biological phenomena, the impact they have on human civilizations is primarily driven by humans. This is because humans control the social structures which determine the rate and location of disease spread, not all groups are equally protected from disease, and this phenomena can be used to increase levels of hate against specific marginalized groups. For this class my major essay examined Mad Cow Disease in the UK to determine what their response was to the disease, and why they failed to do so adequately.