Gala Rexer talks to Edna Bonhomme, culture writer, historian of science, journalist, and author of “A History of the World in Six Plagues: How Contagion, Class, and Captivity Shaped Us, from Cholera to COVID-19” (2025). The conversation covers theoretical and methodological questions about the relationship between confinement and disease, Edna’s anti/inter-disciplinary approach to writing, health and illness in literature, and how the intersectional fight for prison abolition relates to struggles for health equality. 

This conversation was recorded in June 2025

Speakers: Dr Gala Rexer, Leverhulme Fellow at the University of Warwick and Honorary Research Fellow at the SPRC // Dr Edna Bonhomme 
Producer:  Gala Rexer and Trisha Hart
Editors:  James Fox


SPRC In Conversation with Edna Bonhomme

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SPRC In Conversation with Edna Bonhomme

UCL Institute of Advanced Studies