WORLD WAR II, “SPANISH FLU” OR CHERNOBYL? COVID-19 PANDEMIC IN THE MIRROR OF HISTORICAL ANALOGIES (BASED ON USA AND RUSSIAN MEDIA-DISCOURSE)

Abstract

Purpose. The article attempts to reconstruct a range of historical analogies used to describe the COVID-19 pandemic in American and Russian public discourse in March 2020.Methodology and Approach. The methodological framework is set by the tradition of collective memory research (“memory studies”). The source base is materials posted on official websites of “The New York Times”, “The Washington Post” and “The Wall-Street Journal”, as well as materials from the Russian-language media discourse selected by search queries in the “Yandex News”.Results: the analysis of the media discourse allowed the author to identify three types of appeals to the collective past: “military”, “economic and “epidemiological” analogies. It is noted that the repertoires of “military” and “epidemiological” analogies in Russian and American media discourse are almost identical.Theoretical and/or practical implications. The study allowed testing the author’s methodology for the analysis of historical analogies in the media discourse, and its results open perspectives to further study of the problem.

Keywords

• pandemic
• coronavirus infection
• COVID-19
• collective memory
• historical analogies
• «memory studies»