Cholera in Victorian England: Medicine, Myths, and Modernity

Step into the 19th century and explore the devastating impact of cholera on Victorian England. Learn how this deadly disease swept through crowded cities, challenging public health systems and sparking fear across all classes of society. Discover the evolving understanding of disease transmission, from miasma theory to the groundbreaking work of pioneers like John Snow, whose mapping of outbreaks paved the way for modern epidemiology.

Through vivid historical accounts, we will delve into the era’s social and medical responses, including sanitation reform, quarantine measures, and curious remedies like “cholera belts” and aromatic pouches. This lecture examines how cholera shaped public health policies and attitudes toward urban living, leaving a legacy that resonates to this day. Join us to uncover the interplay between science, society, and the human will to overcome epidemic crises in a rapidly industrializing world.

Bio:

Lena Schattenherz Heide-Brennand is a Norwegian lecturer with a master degree in language, culture and literature from the University of Oslo and Linnaeus University. She has been lecturing and teaching various subjects since 1998. Her field of interest and main focus has always been topics that others have considered strange, eccentric and eerie, and she has specialised in a variety of dark subjects linked to folklore, mythology and Victorian traditions and medicine. Her students often point out her thorough knowledge about the subjects she is teaching, in addition to her charismatic appearance. She refers to herself as a performance lecturer and always gives her audience an outstanding experience

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Cholera in Victorian England- Lena Heide Brennand - Zoom