Oral History Project
In March 2020, halfway through the semester at Georgetown, we found ourselves in the midst of an event of world-historical significance. The moment was frightening and filled with uncertainty. But it was also clear that what was happening and how people responded to it would provide important knowledge for the future. Four members of the class decided to interview people in the cities they were studying to create records of the pandemic from the local and individual perspective, which we called “pandemic oral histories.” Others used local data and news reports to create “pandemic city snapshots” for their cities. Together, these reports provide a time capsule of March-May 2020 in fifteen cities around the world.
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Nanjing
In December 2019, health authorities in Wuhan, Hubei discovered an outbreak of a pneumonia-like infection, which was shortly identified as a novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV2.
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Delhi NCT
As one of the world’s largest developing economies and most populous countries, India has been significantly impacted by the global spread of the novel coronavirus.
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Kaohsiung
Being just 81 miles off the coast of China and expected to have the second highest number of cases, Taiwan has been praised by government and business leaders, media, and observers around the world for its relatively successful prevention and control efforts.
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Busan
As of May 15, 2020, there have been 11,018 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 260 deaths in South Korea. The first confirmed case in the nation dates back to January 20.
