Contours of Care: The Influenza Pandemic and Healthcare in Southern California, 1918-1941

Juily Phun
US and World History
UC Irvine

This project historicizes how communities of color navigated a marketplace of options in negotiating sickness and health. In weaving these stories- including oral histories, advertisements for health, public health mandates, and faith-based organizational records, this historical investigation reveals the work involved with staying healthy. This dissertation argues that public health was a contested environment that involved day-to-day transactions by which people negotiated their health. There was not however, an unlimited set of options. Based on race, class, and access, the ethnic Mexican and Asian community made choices grounded on availability, affordability, and understanding of health. “Contours of Care” examines the networks people utilized that diverged and dovetailed with public health institutions and mandates. Whereas the plague and tuberculosis raised discussions of cleanliness, fitness, and citizenship, influenza’s affect across all groups has defied the racial scrutiny posed by other illnesses.