Again I went to Washington DC. I participated in a colloquium of historians. I presented for the first time an overview of my research. When I finished writing it, I realized that it is the structure of a book on Cholera in the Atlantic World in the 1830s. My work has five axes: religion, xenophobia, race, gender, and violence.
At that time, the plague was seen as a divine punishment, so people looked for those responsible for the anger of God. The offenders could be people from other places, such as the foreigners murdered in Paris, the Europeans in Mexico and Central America, or the Irish in New York.
Cholera was associated with poverty, with indigenous people, or with Afro-descendants. The violence against measures to stop cholera was channeled into political violence against health authorities, municipalities, and governments. Women became involved in care tasks, although the morality of the time didn't like women were transferred to hospitals.
The remnants of tropical storm Ian spoiled our stay. We were moving by taxi. That allowed us to meet Adel, an Egyptian from Alexandria. He raved about the new library in his hometown. He taught us how to pronounce his name correctly, which shouldn't sound like Adele. Another taxi driver was from Ethiopia. We talked, of course, about the food in his country - I love Ethiopian food - and how old the civilization is in that part of the world. It was a good trip. Tomorrow I will detail a couple more things. Today I stayed to rest in bed. Between the train's air conditioning and the rain, I caught a cold.