European Journal for Nursing History and Ethics (Web); 4/2022, ed.: Karen Nolte and Susanne Kreutzer

Proposals by: 30.11.2020

The COVID 19 pandemic is a challenge of historical significance. For the first time since the 1950s and 1960s, the persuasion of being an immunized society was shaken. Diseases and pandemics were long portrayed in public history as historical events that modern scientific medicine was able to happily overcome thanks to the invention of antibiotics and vaccination programmes.

The COVID 19 pandemic has changed the perspective on the history of epidemics; currently the question arises how we can learn from past pandemics today. At the same time, the recent discussion shows that in the context of pandemics, ethical challenges to the health care system – such as questions of distributive justice – are becoming particularly acute. Last but not least, against the background of the COVID 19 crisis, society is becoming increasingly aware of the crucial importance of nurses in the health care system.

The special issue aims on the one hand to make nurses visible as actors in the history of pandemics in the various European countries, and on the other hand to discuss ethical challenges for nurses in both historical and current contexts. Possible historical topics are:

• Care during the cholera epidemics in the 19th century
• Role of nurses and nursing practices during the influenza pandemics of 1889–1895 („Russian Flu“); 1918–1920 („Spanish Flu“), 1957 („Asian Flu“) and 1968–1970 („Hong Kong Flu“)
• Care of endemically occurring infectious diseases: tuberculosis, poliomyelitis, typhoid, dysentery
• Dealing with sexually transmitted diseases in nursing care: syphilis, HIV and AIDS, etc.
• Role of nurses in vaccination programmes
• Hygiene knowledge as nursing knowledge; Read more and source … (Web)

Peter Hess, Department of Germanic Studies, University of Texas at Austin (Web)

Proposals by: 15.10.2020

Articles are sought that investigate efforts and strategies by German cities, territorial states, and individual writers to manage pandemics in the Early Modern period and to assist individuals with ethical, theological, and social issues.

The advent of plague in Europe in 1348 was a cataclysmic event that caught most cities and territories off guard as a pandemic of this magnitude had not occurred in Europe since the Plague of Justinian in late Antiquity. The opening pages of Boccaccio’s Decameron painted chaotic scenes of Florence after the arrival of plague. North of the Alps, panic and fear lead to numerous pogroms directed against Jews as well as to processions of flagellants. By the early fifteenth century, the plague had become a disease that recurred periodically, sometimes after only ten to twelve years. In the 1490s, a new illness, the French disease or syphilis, spread throughout Europe. Furthermore, older diseases, like cholera, smallpox, typhoid, and leprosy, were circulating in early modern Europe as well.

As a result, the plague and its effects as a recurring disease had to be reassessed, and communities gradually learned ways to protect themselves. Cities and territories, first in Italy but soon north of the Alps as well, began to develop strategies to contain waves of plague and to prevent future outbreaks. The invention of the printing press around 1450 led to a proliferation of plague texts that were mostly written by physicians and theologians. Many of them were sponsored or at least supported by communal governments, and some were widely disseminated in their cities as semi-official documents. Read more and source … (Web)