From the threads in the fibers, from the traces in the fimbriae: an endless epidemic. Spanish Flu, 1918-1938

Faced with the ethical-political duty to historicize the time lived and to complexify the relations of power and sociability implied in the "events" that the Covid-19 Pandemic continues to offer us, the present work starts from the dialectic of the durations of time in History and proposes an epistemic shift to the field of Collective Health. The thesis is defended that the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918 advanced in time and did not find its end, as it was incorporated into the bowels of society, expressing itself in the social, cultural, political and economic dimensions, modifying power structures and conforming itself as a historical event of long duration. To this end, the work is based on extensive documentary research on the period from 1918 to 1938, analyzes the conjunctural repercussions of the Spanish Flu in the cities of Rio de Janeiro-RJ, São Paulo-SP and Santos-SP and tensions, under the lens of Local History, the epidemic developments in Botucatu-SP. Finally, the work points out constitutive elements and particular meanings that make up the Spanish Flu as an endless epidemic, and that may be investigated in the future in other local and epidemic contexts.