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23 Nov, 25 tweets, 12 min read
I was asked to provide a historical perspective on #Covid19 by @UniFreiburg's Studium generale and used the opportunity to reflect on what, if anything, we can learn from the global history of pandemics. Here’s a link to the recorded lecture (in German): videoportal.uni-freiburg.de/category/video…
Since the lecture is in German and basically the culmination of eight months of reflecting on, writing about, and debating #Covid19, I thought it might be useful to pull all my previous attempts at thinking about the pandemic historically together in one thread.
So here’s a thread of threads with links to lectures, articles, interviews, discussions. Please note: I put them in chronological order; my thinking about these issues has certainly evolved since the spring. #Covid19
From February 27: A first attempt to approach the pandemic from a historical perspective
From February 28: My thoughts on what was coming and how serious the pandemic threat was
From March 12: What living through #Covid19 felt to me in the spring
From March 20: On the nationalized / nationalistic responses to the global threat of #Covid19
From April 11: On global health politics from Cholera to #Covid19 – a public lecture at Georgetown University's @EuropaSaxa, turned into a podcast episode of @theeuropedesk
From April 17: On the widespread critique of the World Health Organization’s (mis-)handling of the pandemic, and why I believed (and still believe) much of it was misleading
From May 7: On how the pandemic exacerbated gender imbalances and discrimination – a critique of a particularly egregious example at my own university
From May 9: An addendum to my critique of my university’s failure to take issues of gender discrimination during the pandemic seriously
From May 15: A wide-ranging discussion on all things global health on the #InfectiousHistorians podcast
From May 20: On the relationship between the U.S. and the World Health Organization, and why much of the critique of the @WHO ignored the recent history of global public health
From May 26: On the “cycle of panic and neglect” that has historically characterized the West’s reactions to the threat of pandemics
From May 28: An interview for the @pandemiapodcast on the history of global public health, and of Cholera in particular
From June 16: An essay on “Pandemics in History: Global Solidarity is the Only Way Forward”
From June 17: On the history of the @WHO, and why the West is to blame for many of its (real and perceived) shortcomings - an essay for @G_der_Gegenwart
Also from June 17: A debate on the World Health Organization and the past, present, and future of international society, organized by @erezmanela and @DavidRArmitage at @Harvard_History
(The panel discussion was published here:) )
From June 18: An interview with @swissinfo_de on where to put #Covid19 historically, and whether or not what we’re experiencing is unprecedented
Also from June 18: A conversation with @RabeaRi for @dg_history on the global history of pandemics and the current political responses to #Covid19
From July: An essay for @redaktionmerkur on the “Age of Pandemics” and the history of global health
(A slightly edited version of the essay was also published in @zeitonline)
Two final thoughts: Much of my work on how to historicize the pandemic happened while I was suffering from the long-term effects of a March Covid infection. I could have done without this kind of fusion of the professional and the personal. #LongCovid
Finally: Even people who recognized the seriousness of the pandemic threat early on couldn’t have foreseen the way 2020 played out. So many factors and actors at play – let’s remember that whenever someone pretends to be able to predict how “history” is going to unfold.

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More from @tzimmer_history

Thomas Zimmer Profile picture
25 Nov
I reviewed @ezraklein‘s “Why We’re Polarized” for @hsozkult. A few thoughts, from a historical perspective, on an important book that still left me unconvinced that "polarization" is the right lens through which to analyze America’s recent past and present. 1/
Quick disclaimer: I’m not a political scientist and not necessarily interested in policy prescriptions. My perspective on “Why We’re Polarized” is that of a historian of 20th century U.S. politics who’s working on the history of the polarization idea/narrative. 2/
First of all, everyone should read "Why We’re Polarized." I learned an awful lot from this book, and the way @ezraklein summarizes and synthesizes the conflicts that shape U.S. politics and the forces that are shaping American society is truly impressive. 3/
Read 49 tweets
Thomas Zimmer Profile picture
8 Nov
I RTed this thread by @mattsheffield yesterday because it contains crucial observations on conservative media.

However, I strongly disagree with the idea that Trump’s supporters are being "misled" and I don’t think "love can defeat hate" is a helpful motto. A few thoughts: 1/
To begin with, there is very little empirical evidence for the assertion that Trump’s supporters are simply being deceived by conservative elites. 2/
Considering that the question of what’s animated millions of Americans to stick with Trump has received more media and academic attention than any other topic over the past few years, that’s significant. 3/
Read 19 tweets
Thomas Zimmer Profile picture
1 Oct
I find this question, prompted by @SethCotlar’s criticism of what he rightfully calls the "naïve, American Exceptionalist idea that 'it can’t happen here'," really interesting. A few thoughts from a German perspective. 1/
I’m not necessarily an expert on this topic and have not been following the debate among German conservatives super closely (keeping up with what’s happening on the American side of the Atlantic keeps you pretty busy these days…). So these are really just a few thoughts. 2/
Interestingly, German post-war history has been shaped by almost the reverse exceptionalist idea: "It happened here, so it can always happen again, and it is our responsibility to make sure that it won’t, at least not here." 3/
Read 21 tweets
Thomas Zimmer Profile picture
13 Aug
Conservatives claiming to be “confused” by the - honestly not all that complicated - idea that “race” is not a biological reality, but a social construct that has dramatically shaped the social, political, and cultural hierarchy in the U.S., is so very tiring and silly.
It’s always hard to discern how much of that stems from pure ignorance and how much is just bad-faith debate club nonsense. In any case, they honestly think their “confusion” is an indictment of the theories and ideas of race and racism they don’t like.
Of course, contrary to what conservatives want to pretend, this sort of “confusion” does not cast doubt on well established and empirically proven theories of - it simply reflects very poorly on those who are unable or unwilling to grasp and engage with them on an adequate level.
Read 4 tweets
Thomas Zimmer Profile picture
8 Aug
To elaborate on this excellent point: America has always been dominated by one group - conservative white Christians. And a political system that threatened their privileged status - true democracy - has always been anathema to them.
What’s changed is that until recently, conservative white Christians were dominant in both parties, so they regarded both Republican and Democratic rule as legitimate.
That’s no longer the case though: Only one party, the GOP, has pledged to preserve and defend white conservative Christian rule by whatever means necessary, while the other is pursuing a more pluralistic, (small-d) democratic vision.
Read 4 tweets
Thomas Zimmer Profile picture
3 Aug
As the state of Victoria in Australia has declared a “state of disaster” due to rising Covid infections, with the city of Melbourne even announcing a strict curfew, this article does a good job of explaining how much worse the situation in the U.S. is, compared to Australia. 1/
To build on that, let’s zoom in on a comparison between the state of Victoria and the state of Maryland – because I used to live in MD and have family in Victoria, and because they’re both similar in terms of population (6.6 million for Victoria, about 6 million for Maryland). 2/
On Sunday, Victoria registered 671 new infections – overall, they’re up to 12,000 confirmed cases and fewer than 150 deaths. Maryland, meanwhile, has been hovering around 1,000 new cases per day, and has seen over 90,000 cases and 3,500 deaths total. 3/
Read 5 tweets

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