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A Journal of the Plague Year Arizona Collection Australia Boston Bronx Community College New York Brooklyn College New York Canada Las Americas Lockdown Staten Island New Orleans Oral Histories Philippines Sacramento Community Based Organizations Southwest Stories Teaching the Pandemic The City College of New York

2020-08-20

Sensory history and the pandemic

I've been thinking about sensory history and how often it's left out of historical records. We often don't stop to comment on observations we make every day like noise of a busy street corner or the smell of muffins baking in the kitchen. I'm teaching HST643 Global history during Fall B with a module on sensory history. I'd like to ask students to add a perspective on the sensory history of the pandemic. I posted this thought in the JOTPY Slack workspace and Shanna replied with a really interesting observation about sound: “…there is an odd tension of noise inside my home and silence the second I step outside. I find myself needing a quiet space when I’m in my house. Yet the second I walk outside, it’s way too quiet that I start to feel uncomfortably lonely and in need of human connection.”