The Topic of the Day: Information Networks in Russia and the World during the 1889-1892 Influenza Epidemic

• In Event: Circulation of Medical Knowledge in Imperial Russian, Soviet, and Post-Soviet History

Abstract

In November 1889, St Petersburg suddenly became the center of an information network about an emerging infectious disease soon dubbed the “Russian influenza” by western newspapers. This paper examines the circulation of medical knowledge among experts and the popular press within Russia, across Europe, and globally. Tracking reports about influenza in newspapers and medical journals reveals the circulation, contestation, and negotiation of knowledge about transmission, symptoms, prevention, and vital statistics. Methods drawn from network analysis, data science, a decolonizing perspective on the history of medicine, and global history re-centers Russia in the history of the first influenza pandemic in a networked world.

Author

• Tom Ewing, Virginia Tech