Global Explanations versus Local Interpretations: The Historiography of the Influenza Pandemic of 1918-19 in Africa

Heaton, Matthew M.; Falola, Toyin

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Title:	Global Explanations versus Local Interpretations: The Historiography of the Influenza Pandemic of 1918-19 in Africa
Authors:	Heaton, Matthew M. Falola, Toyin
Year:	2006
Periodical:	History in Africa
Volume:	33
Pages:	205-230
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Africa
Subjects:	influenza epidemics 1918 historiography Health and Nutrition History and Exploration
External link:	http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/history_in_africa/v033/33.1heaton.pdf
Abstract:	In 1918 an influenza pandemic of unprecedented virulence spread across the planet. In less than a year the pandemic had run its course, ultimately responsible for somewhere between 30 and 50 million deaths worldwide. However, the pandemic has not entered the meta-narrative of world history, or national histories, to the same extent that major wars or natural disasters have. This essay categorizes the historiography of the influenza pandemic through a discussion of the different approaches taken to the study of the pandemic in Africa. Two distinct categories emerge from the analysis. The first category focuses primarily on the spread and demographic impact of the pandemic in Africa, as well as the official response of colonial governments to the pandemic. Studies in this category seem to be more concerned with emphasizing the commonalities of experience across space. The second category takes the analysis a step further and attempts to determine the relative importance of the influenza pandemic by situating it within the social or local history of a given place. The essay suggests that an implicit, but as yet unrecognized, debate exists between studies in these two categories. On the one hand, there is a thematic argument that the pandemic should be understood primarily in global terms. On the other hand, studies in the social and local history of the pandemic in Africa tend to concern themselves only with the impact of the pandemic in a specific area. The path to a more meaningful understanding of the influenza pandemic in Africa must come through an engagement in this debate. Notes, ref. [ASC Leiden abstract]

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