We are pleased to announce the conference program for “From the Black Death to COVID-19: Airborne Diseases in History, Literature, and Culture,” held online via Zoom on November 16-18, 2022.

Bringing together research from across the globe, this conference presents engagements with airborne diseases across a diverse thematic landscape. Tracing the history of airborne diseases across multiple scholarly fields, “From the Black Death to COVID-19: Airborne Diseases in History, Literature, and Culture” platforms significant discourse engaging with air, pollution, viruses, and health. The talks that constitute this conference consider representations of airborne diseases, directly interrogating how such representations help us better understand the complexity of air in the context of epidemics and pandemics. The speakers address topics inclusive of, but not limited to, contagion and transmission, zoonotic diseases, infections, death, air, air pollution by viruses, media and literary representations of disease and medicine, and questions of protection in an era of pandemics.

The conference program is available below, with each panel comprised of two to four 20-minute presentations, and allocated time for questions. Details of each panel, alongside further information pertaining to the keynote talks by Samantha Allen Wright (William Penn University), Vesta T. Silva (Allegheny College), and Monika Pietrzak-Franger (University of Vienna), can be found within.

Conference attendance is free and open to all interested parties. Please email air.anglistik@univie.ac.at to register.