Spanish Flu: The First Modern Case of Viral Humour?

This chapter focuses on exploring the link between the Spanish flu, a pandemic that was rampant between 1918-19, and humour through cartoons and newspapers. To circumvent the traditional challenges of historiographical research I adopted a triangulation-based approach of three different countries, that underwent different trajectories, Italy, the UK and Russia in order to merge these national narratives and observe the phenomenon from different angles. A reflection on humour as a moral occurrence, expanding on the works of Christie Davies as well as applying recent findings on the behavioural immune system on historical data, can offer new insights on overlooked cultural and humour-based aspects of these societies during the Spanish flu. An unorthodox take on the evolution of cultural items pioneered by Antonio Gramsci in his Notes on Machiavelli, should also enrich the understanding of the analysed material through the addition of an informational-psychological layer to the traditional historical material one. This theoretical and methodological “convergence” hopefully will constitute a viable “collection of strategies” for practitioners and the wider public alike. Archives were consulted in all three countries; translations are provided by the author to unlock how the Spanish flu, and other diseases, affected humour as a tool to explore the social world in conditions of heightened disgust and wide-spread political instability. The age-old question of whether humour has a significant effect on societal changes can be examined through significant case studies to “push the boundaries” on what human beings do throughout history when tragedy knocks on the door.