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The Program

Join us as we examine the likely origins and early spread of COVID-19, with particular reference to wet markets and China’s earlier experience with SARS. Portland State University's Shawn Smallman explores these facts, as well as many of the conspiracy theories and questionable beliefs that have spread on social media, news outlets, and public discourse recently. To help better understand these beliefs, Smallman will endeavor to place COVID-19 into the context of other disease outbreaks, such as the 2009 influenza pandemic and Zika— with the hopes of breaking down and demystifying why these beliefs have so much power, and how we can better understand this epidemic.

Shawn Smallman is a Professor of International and Global Studies at Portland State University with a background of scholarly work in global health, particularly regarding HIV/AIDS and avian influenza; indigenous history, health and religion; the global drug trade and global health; and conspiracy theories, among other areas. He is the author of The AIDS Pandemic in Latin America, which was based on research in southern Mexico, Cuba and Brazil. Smallman blogs regularly on global affairs at Introduction to Global Studies.