Historicising the nexus between transportation and pandemics with reference to major pandemics of the world

AbstractThough the world has witnessed many pandemics so far, this article historicizes the nexus between transportation and pandemics by taking four major pandemics human history has faced so far as representatives. Historically, the means of transportation are rapidly changing; from legs being the...

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Main Authors: Heena Shrestha, Raj K. Baral*
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2024-12-01
Series:Cogent Arts & Humanities
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/23311983.2023.2299532
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author Heena Shrestha
Raj K. Baral*
author_facet Heena Shrestha
Raj K. Baral*
author_sort Heena Shrestha
collection DOAJ
description AbstractThough the world has witnessed many pandemics so far, this article historicizes the nexus between transportation and pandemics by taking four major pandemics human history has faced so far as representatives. Historically, the means of transportation are rapidly changing; from legs being the only kings on our streets to the fastest trains and aeroplanes, which have not only altered the world scenario but also have worked as the fastest vectors of pathogens. In this research, we have taken the ancient pandemic of Antonine Plague, the fourteenth-century pandemic of Black Death, the twentieth-century pandemic of Spanish Flu, and the most recent as well as the ongoing pandemic of COVID-19 as the representative pandemics the human civilization has faced, and we have analyzed them in conversation with some insights from globalization vis-à-vis transportation and pandemics and some discourses from kinesthetic rhetoric keeping the issues of health and medicine in consideration. Our article concludes that with ever-growing means of transportation, it does not take a long time for a disease to become a pandemic. Therefore, it is an urgent call for human beings to understand the material persuasion of vehicular technologies and to work accordingly.
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spelling doaj.art-6ec80a40c135465c89296acdf0b91dfd2024-03-11T14:22:21ZengTaylor & Francis GroupCogent Arts & Humanities2331-19832024-12-0111110.1080/23311983.2023.2299532Historicising the nexus between transportation and pandemics with reference to major pandemics of the worldHeena Shrestha0Raj K. Baral*1Central Department of English, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, NepalCentral Department of English, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, NepalAbstractThough the world has witnessed many pandemics so far, this article historicizes the nexus between transportation and pandemics by taking four major pandemics human history has faced so far as representatives. Historically, the means of transportation are rapidly changing; from legs being the only kings on our streets to the fastest trains and aeroplanes, which have not only altered the world scenario but also have worked as the fastest vectors of pathogens. In this research, we have taken the ancient pandemic of Antonine Plague, the fourteenth-century pandemic of Black Death, the twentieth-century pandemic of Spanish Flu, and the most recent as well as the ongoing pandemic of COVID-19 as the representative pandemics the human civilization has faced, and we have analyzed them in conversation with some insights from globalization vis-à-vis transportation and pandemics and some discourses from kinesthetic rhetoric keeping the issues of health and medicine in consideration. Our article concludes that with ever-growing means of transportation, it does not take a long time for a disease to become a pandemic. Therefore, it is an urgent call for human beings to understand the material persuasion of vehicular technologies and to work accordingly.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/23311983.2023.2299532Black deathCovid-19globalizationpandemicpathogentransportation
spellingShingle Heena Shrestha
Raj K. Baral*
Historicising the nexus between transportation and pandemics with reference to major pandemics of the world
Cogent Arts & Humanities
Black death
Covid-19
globalization
pandemic
pathogen
transportation
title Historicising the nexus between transportation and pandemics with reference to major pandemics of the world
title_full Historicising the nexus between transportation and pandemics with reference to major pandemics of the world
title_fullStr Historicising the nexus between transportation and pandemics with reference to major pandemics of the world
title_full_unstemmed Historicising the nexus between transportation and pandemics with reference to major pandemics of the world
title_short Historicising the nexus between transportation and pandemics with reference to major pandemics of the world
title_sort historicising the nexus between transportation and pandemics with reference to major pandemics of the world
topic Black death
Covid-19
globalization
pandemic
pathogen
transportation
url https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/23311983.2023.2299532
work_keys_str_mv AT heenashrestha historicisingthenexusbetweentransportationandpandemicswithreferencetomajorpandemicsoftheworld
AT rajkbaral historicisingthenexusbetweentransportationandpandemicswithreferencetomajorpandemicsoftheworld