In this episode, Hugh Shapiro and Claytee D. White talk about memory, loss, the politics of forgetting our past when we look for ways to live during a pandemic.

Hugh Shapiro is Associate Professor of East Asian history at the University of Nevada. He works on the history of disease in comparative context.  The analysis of bodily experience is a powerful tool for grappling with historical transformation, and his archival and fieldwork in China, Japan, and Taiwan focuses on how cultural practice, environment, and ideas inflect the way people experience illness, in particular neuropsychiatric distress.  His recent work appears in volumes published by Harvard University Press, Brill, Rowman & Littlefield, Kluwer, and globalyceum.  Hugh has enjoyed visiting appointments at Princeton University, at universities in China, Japan, and Taiwan, and at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton.  Hugh’s other research and teaching interests include Sino-Russian-Central Asian relations and the history of de-colonization and authoritarianism.  As a Smithsonian Journeys Expert, he has lectured in 20 countries in Eurasia.   During his years of study and research in East Asia, he enjoyed diverse extracurricular experiences, such as working on an innovative Sino-Japanese television production for NHK.  He received the Li-Qing Prize for the History of Chinese Science and won his university’s highest teaching award.  Hugh earned his B.A. from Stanford University and his Ph.D. from Harvard University. 

Claytee D. White is the inaugural director of the Oral History Research Center for the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Libraries. She collects the history of Las Vegas and the surrounding area by gathering memories of events and experiences from longtime residents. Her projects include early health care in the city, history of the John S. Park Neighborhood, The Boyer Early Las Vegas Oral History Project, and a study of musicians who played with some of the greats in the entertainment field. As one of five founders of the Las Vegas Black Historical Society Inc., she chronicles the history of the Las Vegas black community that was established in 1905. Her published writings on the subject include a book chapter, encyclopedia entries, and several articles. White received her bachelor’s degree from California State University, Los Angeles, master’s degree in history from University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and has completed work toward a doctorate at the College of William & Mary. White currently serves on the Board of Women of Diversity, the UNLV Presidential Debate Planning Committee, and the Historic Preservation Commission. White has also served on the Historic Preservation Commission for the city of Las Vegas, Nevada Humanities executive board, and is the past president of the Southwest Oral History Association.

Discussed: imprisonment without trial; freedom; willingness (to submit); cities being zones about death; late 19th century global epidemic neurasthenia; stigmas; shopping and gambling; malls; commodity in capitalism; voting rights & John Lewis; Black community; Fuzhou night market; existentialism; last survivors on Earth.