Recycled Stories: Health Legends, Epidemics and the Politics of Risk

A transcript for this episode can be found online here.

Elphinstone Institute’s Annual David Buchan Lecture 
The Elphinstone Institute is a centre for the study of Ethnology, Folklore, and Ethnomusicology with a research and public engagement remit covering the North-East and North of Scotland. Through interaction with researchers and practitioners, this podcast explores cultural phenomena in everyday life.

Today's podcast comes from the Institute archives and features a lecture entitled Recycled Stories: Health Legends, Epidemics and the Politics of Risk, delivered by Professor Diane Goldstein. Professor Goldstein is the director of the Folklore Institute and chair of the department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology, Indiana University. She has served as president of the American Folklore Society and the Society for Contemporary Legend Research. 
The talk explores medical epidemic legends and their significance to modern healthcare practice. As part of community discourse about the nature of disease, legends provide powerful information about cultural understandings of disease and illness. Though fascinating, intriguing, and often frightening, health legends do more than merely entertain. They warn and inform, articulate notions of risk, provide political commentary on public health actions, and offer insight into the relationship between cultural and health truths. Health narratives, however, do not simply articulate perceptions of disease realities; they also create those realities. Told within scientific and official sectors as well as lay communities, legends play a significant role in medical, legal, and educational responses to disease and its management. This talk will explore similarities between legends concerning several epidemics and will demonstrate the importance of that information for public health. 

Although delivered in 2016, Diane's talk is extremely pertinent today as we remain, at least in Scotland, in the grip of the covid-19 virus.

The recording begins with some remarks by former University of Aberdeen Principal Professor Sir Ian Diamond. This is followed by a short presentation by the director of the Elphinstone institute, Dr Thomas McKean, who subsequently introduces Professor Goldstein. 

Intro and outro music provided by Zazim. 
The views expressed in this podcast are those of the individuals concerned and do not represent the views of the University of Aberdeen.