Syracuse Sun

A project employing humanities methods to document and explore pandemic backlash and the experiences of public health officials has received $1.25 million in funding from the Mellon Foundation. The multi-university effort involves historians and public health scholars based at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, New York University’s School of Global Public Health, and The Ohio State University College of Public Health.

The three-year grant supports the creation of a unique oral history archive, course development focused on the history and ethics of public health pandemic response, and faculty and doctoral student training that centers on humanities knowledge and methods.

The educational and research resource will create “new, urgently needed, accessible opportunities for the humanities to speak to public health and broaden access to humanities higher learning opportunities,” says Amy Fairchild, professor at the Maxwell School, who is principal investigator (PI). Co-PIs are Marian Moser Jones, associate professor of health services management and policy at The Ohio State University, and Cheryl Healton, founding dean and professor of public health policy and management at the School of Global Public Health at New York University (NYU).

The research team has already conducted nearly 100 interviews with state and local health officials about their experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. A planned third phase of the oral history initiative will result in approximately 150 interviews from 40 states and two territories that will become part of a digital archive titled “Stewards in the Storm,” housed at Syracuse University’s Qualitative Data Repository.

Widespread public and political backlash against protective health measures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic—and against those who were trying to implement those measures—has had a lasting impact on public health. This includes ongoing staff shortages and attempts to sharply curtail public health authorities needed to preserve life. In their initial rounds of interviews, the research team found that 36 percent of health officials reported receiving death threats, while 24 percent reported serious threats to their families—with women and people of color more likely to receive such threats.

The third round of interviews is important because it ensures a resource with a broad, nationally inclusive sample that both researchers and instructors can use for reliable research," Healton says. "It also helps develop strong humanities content in courses that reach both public health and humanities students."

In addition to expanding the interviews, researchers plan to establish a hands-on “Backlash Lab” introducing students to the history and ethics of public health, oral history interviewing techniques, qualitative coding strategies, quantitative analysis. The lab will be anchored at Syracuse, Ohio State, NYU while creating partnerships with colleges historically serving Black, Hispanic or first-generation students. Students will code interviews and write case studies for undergraduate/graduate courses as well as professional settings.

Additionally, a survey course titled Pandemics: History, Ethics, Politics & Policy will be developed collaboratively offered at Syracuse University, Ohio State University NYU Cornell University aiming extend it other collaborating institutions schools programs in public health. The course aims cut across public health policy humanities focusing on history medical sociology communications.

In years two three project team run two workshops scholars teaching public health humanities community four-year colleges universities across country focusing institutions have public health schools programs. Workshops introduce teachers techniques oral history suggest ways work archive extend reach new course.

The project capitalizes synergies between public health humanities addresses common gaps knowledge about public health history. "As important easy access primary documents related pandemic responses we can further illuminate broader historical themes enrich both humanities field providing insight peoples’ lived experiences pandemics pandemic response," Moser Jones says.

"This rich body narrative history does more than create qualitative data through oral history methods," Fairchild adds. "Rather uses experience pandemic lens clarify contextualize continuing climate pandemic-associated backlash ongoing repercussions pragmatic efforts confront population challenges reproductive rights climate change primarily foundation humanistic investigation ways governmental responses crises social products reflect societies which people live die."

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