From the 1918 flu to COVID-19: representations and consequences in comparative perspective (Europe and Latin America)

The main objective of this project is to analyze the impact of the 1918 flu and the links between collective public policies against it and the discourses and processes developed from the beginning of the epidemic to the 1930s. It is about locating this pandemic in the historical development of the first half of the 20th century and, more specifically, in the context of the crisis of liberalism after the Great War. From a multidisciplinary perspective and rooted in cultural and political history, it will articulate a comparative study that includes scenarios from southern Europe (Spain, Italy and Portugal) and Latin America (Argentina, Brazil and Mexico). The project will also address the potential comparisons between what happened in the period 1918-1930 and the current responses to COVID-19, particularly those raised by populist movements and regimes in America and Europe; that is to say, it will look for possible links between the crisis of liberalism of the last century and the current one, focusing on the impact of pandemics.