Who are you?听
Hello! I鈥檓 an undergraduate linguistics student going into my third year and I鈥檝e been working as a SPRINT intern on the Quo听VaDis听team听throughout听July.听听
What is SPRINT?听
SPRINT (Summer Project Research听INTernship) is a听four week听internship available to students majoring in Linguistics and/or English Language at 快播视频. It听has been an incredible opportunity to learn more about what it鈥檚 like to work in a research team and be involved with interesting, cutting-edge research.听听
What have you been looking at?听
Anti-vaccination sentiment is not new! Whilst I鈥檝e been here, I鈥檝e been investigating anti-vaccination movements throughout history.听As can be seen from the interactive timeline听below, I鈥檝e听detailed听events ranging from pamphlet听to policy,听to听a听demonstration听in 1885听involving a听decapitated Jenner effigy听and听over 80,000 protestors!听Besides providing extensive historical context to anti-vaccination, I鈥檝e been sourcing听over 50听documents from that period and learnt corpus techniques听from the world鈥檚 leading corpus linguistic department听to听analyse them.听听
What has it been like working with the research team during COVID?听
Whilst it would have been nice to meet the team in person, it has been lovely to meet them all remotely, keep them updated on my findings and hear about what they had found. As the team come from various academic backgrounds and disciplines: forensic linguistics, biomedical and life science, even a member from Public Health England, I would always receive some super interesting comments and questions regarding what I found.
What did you find interesting?听
Vaccination in the present day can be a relatively polarising issue听but听it was fascinating to learn that听this is not new;听anti-vaccinationists even in the 19th听Century were being called 鈥榓nti-everything cranks鈥� accused of being neglectful or apathetic, whereas vaccinators were called 鈥榲ampires鈥�, 鈥榲ivisectors鈥� and听鈥榖utchers鈥�.听These names reflected views听at听the time about stereotypes of anti-vaccinators.听Anti-vaccinators,听however,听argued听they had 鈥榗onscientious听objections鈥櫶齛nd voiced concerns such as the increasing power of the state, particularly over individual bodies,听and concerns about the efficacy of the vaccine, both听of which are similarly voiced today.
听
