How was it really?

University of Sydney History Department

Presented by Nick Eckstein and Sophie Loy-Wilson, both of the History Department at the University of Sydney, HWIR? asks why historians do what they do. What makes someone study modern China, colonial Australia, renaissance Italy, the indigenous peoples of Canada, or freedom fighters in West Papua? Why do historians become obsessed by their subject, and can they ever really find out "how it really was" in the past? HWIR? asks how talking to the past changes the present, and how it transforms the way we think about ourselves today. Nick Eckstein Cassamarca Associate Professor Nick Eckstein is a historian of...

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How was it really?

Episodes (6)

May 5, 2021 When a pandemic plague hit Florence in 1630, why were city health officers worried about smells?
May 4, 2021 How did West Papuan people become invisible?
Apr 13, 2021 Why did the duck go to the Canadian supreme court?

How was it really?

May 5, 2021
32¾ minutes
35 MB

When the pandemic plague hit, the first action taken by the government was to impose an emergency lockdown. It was known that the disease could pass from person to person, so movement and personal contact were strictly controlled. If you developed symptoms, if you had been in contact with someone who had symptoms, if you had been somewhere the disease was known to be present, you were isolated or forced to remain indoors. Australia 2020? No, this is Florence, 1630. But why were Florentines so frightened of bad smells? And why did the health office create a walking map of their...

How was it really?

When a pandemic plague hit Florence in 1630, why were city health officers worried about smells?

University of Sydney History Department

00:00 -30:56