{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,28]],"date-time":"2026-03-28T12:00:52Z","timestamp":1774699252056,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":12,"publisher":"Duke University Press","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,10,5]],"date-time":"2020-10-05T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1601856000000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":65,"URL":"https:\/\/www.cambridge.org\/core\/terms"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["cambridge.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["J of Asian Stud"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2020,8]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has produced two different narratives in India. One, here described as \u201chistorical,\u201d looks back to the pandemics of the colonial past\u2014bubonic plague from 1896, influenza in 1918\u201319\u2014as a source of comparisons, lessons, and dire warnings for the present. This narrative envisages the reenactment of past scenes, including flight from the cities, victimization of the poor, and the questioning of state authority. The other narrative, here called \u201cinsurgent,\u201d questions the value of historical analogies, doubts that history ever substantially repeats itself, and stresses the specificity of postcolonial Indian politics and health. While recognizing the validity of both narratives, the author urges caution in employing colonial history to critique contemporary events and, while recognizing the 1890s plague as a watershed moment, questions whether even the most devastating pandemics (such as 1918's influenza) necessarily result in profound social, political, and health care changes.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1017\/s0021911820002272","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,10,5]],"date-time":"2020-10-05T14:30:57Z","timestamp":1601908257000},"page":"569-577","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1017\/policypage","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":17,"title":["Pandemic India: Coronavirus and the Uses of History"],"prefix":"10.1215","volume":"79","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8781-4095","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"David","family":"Arnold","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"73","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,10,5]]},"reference":[{"key":"S0021911820002272_ref7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/ciso.12263"},{"key":"S0021911820002272_ref6","volume-title":"Borders of an Epidemic: COVID-19 and Migrant Workers","author":"Samaddar","year":"2020"},{"key":"S0021911820002272_ref5","volume-title":"Account of the Plague Administration in the Bombay Presidency, from September 1896 to May 1897","author":"Couchman","year":"1897"},{"key":"S0021911820002272_ref11","first-page":"199","article-title":"The 1957 Pandemic of Influenza in India","volume":"20","author":"Menon","year":"1959","journal-title":"Bulletin of the World Health Organization"},{"key":"S0021911820002272_ref8","first-page":"104","volume-title":"Borders of an Epidemic: COVID-19 and Migrant Workers,","author":"Biswas","year":"2020"},{"key":"S0021911820002272_ref4","volume-title":"Colonizing the Body: State Medicine and Epidemic Disease in Nineteenth-Century India","author":"Arnold","year":"1993"},{"key":"S0021911820002272_ref12","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1017\/S0080440119000082"},{"key":"S0021911820002272_ref10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1093\/oso\/9780198819660.001.0001","volume-title":"Epidemics: Hate and Compassion from the Plague of Athens to AIDS","author":"Cohn","year":"2018"},{"key":"S0021911820002272_ref9","volume-title":"The Famine Campaign in Southern India, 1876\u201378","author":"Digby","year":"1878"},{"key":"S0021911820002272_ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.4103\/ijmr.IJMR_407_18"},{"key":"S0021911820002272_ref2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(06)69895-4"},{"key":"S0021911820002272_ref3","volume-title":"The Scientific Background of the International Sanitary Conferences, 1851\u20131938","author":"Howard-Jones","year":"1975"}],"container-title":["The Journal of Asian Studies"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.cambridge.org\/core\/services\/aop-cambridge-core\/content\/view\/S0021911820002272","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2023,4,7]],"date-time":"2023-04-07T21:48:29Z","timestamp":1680904109000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/read.dukeupress.edu\/journal-of-asian-studies\/article\/79\/3\/569\/321431"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2020,8]]},"references-count":12,"journal-issue":{"issue":"3","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2020,8]]}},"alternative-id":["S0021911820002272"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1017\/s0021911820002272","relation":{},"ISSN":["0021-9118","1752-0401"],"issn-type":[{"value":"0021-9118","type":"print"},{"value":"1752-0401","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2020,8]]},"assertion":[{"value":"Copyright \u00a9 The Association for Asian Studies, Inc., 2020","name":"copyright","label":"Copyright","group":{"name":"copyright_and_licensing","label":"Copyright and Licensing"}}]}}