In this Book
- Being Human during COVID
- Book
- 2021
- Published by: University of Michigan Press
-
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
summary
Science has taken center stage during the COVID-19 crisis; scientists named and diagnosed the virus, traced its spread, and worked together to create a vaccine in record time. But while science made the headlines, the arts and humanities were critical in people’s daily lives. As the world went into lockdown, literature, music, and media became crucial means of connection, and historians reminded us of the resonance of the past as many of us heard for the first time about the 1918 influenza pandemic. As the twindemics of COVID-19 and racial injustice tore through the United States, a contested presidential race unfolded, which one candidate described as “a battle for the soul of the nation."
Being Human during COVID documents the first year of the pandemic in real time, bringing together humanities scholars from the University of Michigan to address what it feels like to be human during the COVID-19 crisis. Over the course of the pandemic, the questions that occupy the humanities—about grieving and publics, the social contract and individual rights, racial formation and xenophobia, ideas of home and conceptions of gender, narrative and representations and power—have become shared life-or-death questions about how human societies work and how culture determines our collective fate. The contributors in this collection draw on scholarly expertise and lived experience to try to make sense of the unfamiliar present in works that range from traditional scholarly essays, to personal essays, to visual art projects. The resulting book is shot through with fear, dread, frustration, and prejudice, and, on a few occasions, with a thrilling sense of hope.
Being Human during COVID documents the first year of the pandemic in real time, bringing together humanities scholars from the University of Michigan to address what it feels like to be human during the COVID-19 crisis. Over the course of the pandemic, the questions that occupy the humanities—about grieving and publics, the social contract and individual rights, racial formation and xenophobia, ideas of home and conceptions of gender, narrative and representations and power—have become shared life-or-death questions about how human societies work and how culture determines our collective fate. The contributors in this collection draw on scholarly expertise and lived experience to try to make sense of the unfamiliar present in works that range from traditional scholarly essays, to personal essays, to visual art projects. The resulting book is shot through with fear, dread, frustration, and prejudice, and, on a few occasions, with a thrilling sense of hope.
Table of Contents

- Half Title
- pp. i-ii
- Title Page
- p. iii
- Copyright Page
- p. iv
- Acknowledgments
- pp. ix-x
- Introduction
- pp. 1-20
- Part I: Naming
- pp. 21-22
- Chapter 1. This Virus Has No Eyes
- pp. 23-42
- Chapter 2. Facing Our Pandemic
- pp. 43-63
- Chapter 3. Living on Loss of Privileges
- pp. 64-71
- Chapter 4. Not Even Past
- pp. 72-90
- Part II: Waiting
- pp. 91-92
- Chapter 5. Waiting = Death
- pp. 93-116
- Chapter 7. COVID Diary
- pp. 122-131
- Chapter 8. Social Distances in Between
- pp. 132-150
- Part III: Grieving
- pp. 151-152
- Chapter 11. Protests, Prayers, and Protections
- pp. 181-198
- Chapter 12. Soliloquous Solipsism
- pp. 199-216
- Part IV. Sheltering
- pp. 217-218
- Chapter 14. Caged with the Tiger King
- pp. 221-232
- Chapter 15. Prosthetics for Right Now
- pp. 233-240
- Part V: Resisting
- pp. 241-242
- Chapter 17. The Virus That Kills Twice
- pp. 250-255
- Chapter 18. "Our Steps Come from Long Ago"
- pp. 256-265
- Chapter 24. COVID-19
- pp. 318-328
- Chapter 26. The High Stakes of Blame
- pp. 336-343
- Chapter 27. Unmuting Voices in a Pandemic
- pp. 344-356
- Chapter 28. Quarantine Rebellions
- pp. 357-388
- Contributors
- pp. 389-396
Additional Information
ISBN
9780472902507
Related ISBN(s)
9780472038787
MARC Record
OCLC
1309888191
Launched on MUSE
2022-04-23
Language
English
Open Access
Yes
Creative Commons
CC-BY-NC-ND
Copyright
2021