Pandemic!: COVID-19 Shakes the World
... Many of these questions clearly center on public health: how can citizens be safeguarded from the potentially deadly Covid-19 infection, and how can the spread of SARS-CoV-2 be controlled? However, as was highlighted at the time and has been repeatedly underscored by scholars since: every public health measure inevitably sends ripples through other sectors of society, with significant impacts on the economy, education, and the environment, among others (Butler, 2022;Zinn, 2021;ŽiŽek, 2020). ...
Political decision-making is often riddled with uncertainties, largely due to the complexities and fluid nature of contemporary societies, which make it difficult to predict the consequences of political decisions. Despite these challenges, political leaders cannot shy away from decision-making, even when faced with overwhelming uncertainties. Thankfully, there are tools that can help them manage these uncertainties and support their decisions. Among these tools, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has recently emerged. AI-systems promise to efficiently analyze complex situations, pinpoint critical factors, and thus reduce some of the prevailing uncertainties. Furthermore, some of them have the power to carry out in-depth simulations with varying parameters, predicting the consequences of various political decisions, and thereby providing new certainties. With these capabilities, AI-systems prove to be a valuable tool for supporting political decision-making. However, using such technologies for certainty purposes in political decision-making contexts also presents several challenges—and if these challenges are not addressed, the integration of AI in political decision-making could lead to adverse consequences. This paper seeks to identify these challenges through analyses of existing literature, conceptual considerations, and political-ethical-philosophical reasoning. The aim is to pave the way for proactively addressing these issues, facilitating the responsible use of AI for managing uncertainty and supporting political decision-making. The key challenges identified and discussed in this paper include: (1) potential algorithmic biases, (2) false illusions of certainty, (3) presumptions that there is no alternative to AI proposals, which can quickly lead to technocratic scenarios, and (4) concerns regarding human control.
... La Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS) la declara nueva pandemia mundial y, sin duda, la vida a escala global está sufriendo un cambio sin precedentes (Byung-Chul, 2020). La pandemia demuestra ineficiencia en los mecanismos de mercado (Latour, 2020;Žižek, 2020), para subsanarla urge una reconstrucción social. ...
Introducción. El ciberacoso o ciberbullying se ha incrementado considerablemente a partir del uso masificado de las redes sociales, entre otros motivos por el confinamiento. Objetivos. El propósito de esta investigación es conocer si existen diferencias o similitudes significativas en el alumnado involucrado en episodios de ciberbullying en roles de perpetuación y victimización antes y durante la pandemia del COVID19 durante los años de 2019 y el 2020 desde el género. Participaron 200 estudiantes (57% mujeres y 43% hombres). Metodología. Dentro de la metodología se utilizó un cuestionario de Ciberbullying (CBQ) que mide la participación en acoso cibernético, en dos de los roles (acosador y victimizados). El procedimiento estadístico fue cálculo de medianas de cada muestra y su comparación mediante la prueba de U de Mann-Witney. Resultados. Los resultados mostraron que no existe incremento significativo ya que solamente en dos reactivos del factor sexting, (rol acosador) y otro reactivo del factor provocación incendiaria (rol de victimización), obtuvieron una diferencia importante entre las dos muestras aplicadas, concluyendo y aportando información sobre el incremento del ciberbullying.
... While every generation since recorded history has believed they lived in an age of anxiety, this moment seems particularly catastrophic. Statistically, as one of the deadliest events in American history, the Covid 19 Pandemic destroyed families, communities, livelihoods, and economies and exacerbated a wide range of preexisting social, economic, and political crises-producing a perfect storm of death and destruction (Branswell, 2021;Žižek, 2020). Additionally, we are experiencing an ecological crisis that has contributed to the loss of landscapes and species (Consulo & Ellis, 2018). ...
... The end of grand narratives, which is at the origin of postmodernity, culminates in the information society. 1 Information has replaced narratives. However, information and big data do not narrate anything, meaning that the current era is not only facing a narrative crisis but, as a consequence, political, economic, environmental, and health crises (Chomsky & Polychroniou 2021;Žižek 2020a;2020b). ...
What is the state of democracy today? In the Western world, people often take the meaning of this term for granted, but do they genuinely know what democracy is? In this sense, how can we define democracy in today’s digitalized world? What is the relationship between democracy and information? Furthermore, do we really live in a democratic world? In Infocracy: Digitalization and the Crisis of Democracy—the 2022 translation of the original German book Infokratie. Digitalisierung und die Krise der Demokratie, published in 2021 by MSB Matthes & Seitz Berlin Verlagsgesellschaft mbH—Byung-Chul Han reflects on these and other related issues. Han’s analysis of the current political, social, and technological situation indicates that a profound democratic crisis is emerging. The loss of interest in truth, the end of grand narratives, the replacement of reason with data analysis (even in philosophy), the fragmentation of the population due to digitalization, and the predominant role of information in everyday life are all symptoms of a radical transformation underway in Western society, with severe consequences for democratic stability. In these terms, Han’s vision, at times excessively pessimistic, orients us on the crucial issues of our time.
... La primera refiere a una tendencia que se anunciaba antes de la pandemia y que tiene, entre otros, los siguientes elementos: dependencia y subordinación en la relación de agentes gubernamentales y no-gubernamentales, así como centralización en la forma en que se llevan los asuntos públicos y se toman las 1 Algunos autores ya venían reflexionando sobre estos escenarios, incluso antes de la pandemia. Véase, por ejemplo: Raworth, 2017;Urry, 2016; y, más recientemente, Zizek, 2020. decisiones. ...
La enfermedad coronavírica de 2019 ha representado un problema serio de salud pública con consecuencias muy amplias en el mundo. Se ha escrito mucho sobre los escenarios e impactos que produjo la pandemia como producto de las múltiples crisis que se concatenaron a partir de 2020: económica, social, educativa, por señalar solo algunas. Sin embargo, en el ámbito de la política se ha abordado con menor detalle los efectos que se han producido en los procesos de toma de decisión pública, particularmente en las democracias. Este tomo presenta un conjunto de trabajos que, concentrados en México, pero sin perder la perspectiva comparada, pretenden entender las repercusiones de ese fenómeno global sobre el régimen democrático mexicano, tanto en sus dimensiones institucionales como en las procesuales, incluidos los actores principales de la política. Además, los textos se interesan en detectar los retos y oportunidades para la acción de gobierno, las inercias en las formas de gobernar, así como las tendencias que se configuran a partir de ahora y que podrían definir el futuro del país.
... In the first months of the pandemic, there were philosophers and social theoreticians that saw, in the restrictions, a great potential for radical and revolutionary changes, and creation of new avenues for egalitarian and eco-friendly developments (Zizek 2020;Latour 2021). When everything closed down and people were isolated, they thought this condition represented a possibility for a new beginning. ...
The pandemic and all of its restrictions dominated public attention and social practices for almost three years. There was declared a state of exception in many national contexts during the pandemic. A revolution took place in the governing of bodies and the obstruction of sociality or the basic togetherness of humans. In a direct, physical way, the pandemic regulations were radically individualizing to a degree that had not been seen in either normal societies or normal crises and emergencies. This pandemic condition of being exposed represented a kind of extreme object existence.
... Negara-negara yang lebih otoriter dipandang lebih mampu menangani pandemi Covid 19 lebih efektif, daripada negara-negara demokrasi. (Zizek, 2020) Demokrasi yang hendak mempromosikan rasionalitas manusia, ternyata justru memicu sentimentalitas berlebihan yang berdampak pada polarisasi masyarakat atas nama agama. (Hardiman, 2018) ...
Democracy that was once considered the best political system created by humans, now its image is fading. The picture of democracy today is getting bleaker. Societal polarization, conflict, the politicization of religion, excessive fanaticism, violence, victims, and various other negative phenomena, seem to have integrated into today's democratic practices. The election that should be a Democratic Party, a people's sovereignty party, has become a frightening and worrying moment. Even though today's world really needs political policies that are able to overcome various complicated problems such as: environmental damage, injustice, pandemics, etc. And in fact, democracy is the political system used by the majority of the world's countries today. What will happen to the world if democracy loses its ability to produce the common good (bonum commune)? What if democracy only becomes a tool for elite groups? And it is detrimental to many people? And what is also important to study, what is the role of religion in this concern? Secularization, which separated religion from politics in the past, has limited religion in the private sphere and politics in the public sphere. This situation is slowly turning into a vicious circle. The grim picture of politics is increasingly driving religion away from him. Even though, religion is a moral agent that is needed as a guide for good politics. The distancing of religion makes politics even more bleak, and so on. Given the urgency of this situation, this research was conducted. The research is aimed at finding alternative solutions that can stop this vicious circle. The research was conducted through a literature study, by tracing the situation of democracy and religion at this time. The religious approach used in this study is a Christian religious approach. The thesis of this research is that religion, which is professed by the majority of the world's population today, is actually an antidote to the gloomy picture of today's democracy.
... In summary, the Real-Symbolic-Imaginary model offers a nuanced perspective on organizational dynamics, emphasizing the interplay between objective realities, symbolic representations, and subjective experiences. By integrating insights from Lacanian theory, organizations can enhance their ability to navigate complexity, foster resilience, and cultivate a supportive and meaningful organizational culture (Žižek, 2020;Fink, 2021). ...
This article examines the integration of Quantum Field Theory (QFT) with Classical Field Theory (CFT) to enhance our understanding of organizational dynamics. It highlights the correspondence between Lewin's classical field model, F=∫(P,E), and QFT-based models, illustrating the complex interactions that influence organizational behavior and effectiveness. Lewin's quantized model, Forg=∫[P,∫(CCF,CEF),TE], incorporates personal traits (P), complex conformal and entropic fields (CCF and CEF), and transitional environments (TE), emphasizing the role of systemic flexibility in organizational evolution. Concurrently, the Quantum Organizational Field (QOF) model, integrates strategy, structure, culture, and management systems with interactive and social dynamics. This holistic framework fosters resilience, ambidexterity, and innovation, offering a robust approach to enhancing organizational effectiveness in a complex, multipolar world.
The paper is an attempt to summarize and critically assess the main threads of research on conspiracy theories. The first part of the paper offers an analysis of theoretical frameworks developed within philosophy, political theory, sociology, the theory of history, anthropology and cultural studies. The main approaches to conspiracy theories are discussed through the lens of the anthropology of knowledge. The second part of the paper presents some historical examples of conspiracy theories in European context. The historical scope encompasses examples from the Middle Ages to the present. The authors sought to combine two commonly separated approaches to conspiracy theories – the particularistic and the universalistic. Having in mind that cross-disciplinary cooperation in the field of conspiracy theory research is usually an exception to the rule, and that the dialogue on contradictory findings and different methodologies is quite rare, the authors attempted to show that an interdisciplinary analytical prism – one relativistic (anthropological, particularistic) and one universalistic (historical) could be theoretically and methodologically beneficial to both disciplines.
Este livro procura evidenciar os reptos e as permanências
que atravessam as sociedades atuais, em que as
transformações sociais desafiam a coesão social e, concomitantemente, as permanências demonstram a
sua perenidade.
Com foco especial na realidade açoriana, esta obra é
constituída por sete capítulos que abordam temas como o
futuro do capitalismo e respetivas implicações, a análise
dos regimes de bem-estar social, as desigualdades e a
coesão social, a relação entre pobreza e escolaridade, as
perspetivas dos pais e das crianças sobre os centros de
atividades de tempos livres (CATL), culminando na temática
do divórcio nos Açores.
Este livro pretende contribuir para uma ação informada,
enformada por uma ciência inclusiva e socialmente
partilhada, através do envolvimento cívico da sociedade
açoriana nestes domínios.
El contexto de las democracias contemporáneas comenzó a cambiar hace años con el desarrollo exponencial de los medios de comunicación y de las Tecnologías de la Información y la Comunicación (TIC). A ello se sumó la irrupción de internet y, en la actualidad, la inteligencia artificial (IA) y el internet de las cosas (IoT por sus siglas en inglés) están propiciando cambios de gran calado en todos los órdenes sociales. Este artículo parte de la pregunta sobre las implicaciones del contexto marcado por la IA y el IoT para la democracia y, en concreto, para el ejercicio de la ciudadanía. Para tratar de responderla, se expone en un primer término lo que ha significado este nuevo contexto para los mecanismos de participación, poniendo el acento en los cambios en la relación entre la ciudadanía y la Administración Pública. A continuación, se exponen los retos que este nuevo escenario plantea para la Administración Pública. Por último, se discute la posibilidad de que este nuevo contexto esté determinando la configuración de un nuevo tipo de ciudadanía.
The story of the novel Veba Geceleri by Orhan Pamuk, published in 2021, takes place in 1901, during the third plague pandemic, on an imaginary island in the Eastern Mediterranean, which is claimed to be a part of the Ottoman Empire. The outbreak of the plague, which is brought, like many other similar scourges, by sea, triggers a crisis of epic proportions within the small island community, forcing its vital limits and causing it to assert its identity (among other things through declaring independence and breaking away from Ottoman tutelage). Orhan Pamuk calls on all the resources of the epidemic and of the collective imaginary in times of restriction (the plague brought “from outside”, the plague as a foreigner, the foreigner as a scapegoat or as a possible agent of the plague, quarantine and the opposition to quarantine, the relations between the authorities and the population, the idea of authority, its forms, implications and risks in times of social anomie, the isolation of individuals and their loneliness in an age of distress, humanitarian disaster as the germ of social implosion, etc.) in order to create a novel that nurtures the ambition to enroll, through its explicit and implicit references, the great pandemic literature of the world.
The article concerns the issue of constructing a narrative about the pandemic until early autumn 2022, i.e. the moment when the state of epidemic threat in Poland was officially lifted. This allowed for the analysis of issues related to the formation of memory about a historically close event, considered from the perspective of individuals. The author considers issues such as the way of narrating the COVID‑19 pandemic, ideas about the pandemic, the symbolism indicated by the interlocutors, as well as selected processes and mechanisms that affect the way of perceiving, telling and remembering about a new and previously unexperienced threat. The analyses are mainly based on selected 45 in‑depth qualitative interviews conducted in 2022. The author also refers to interviews conducted with the same people in 2020 and 2021, treating the previous statements as a context and sometimes an explanation or supplement to the content that was formulated in 2022. Interviews constituting the basis for the analyses were conducted with people of different ages and in different life situations (independent adults up to 35 years of age, parents living with children, seniors aged 65 and over), living in various parts of Poland, both in rural areas in small towns and voivodeship capitals. The analyses refer to theoretical concepts presented, among others, by researchers of memory considered in the social dimension, referring to Maurice Halbwachs, such as Aleida Assmann, Jan Assmann, and Astrid Erll.
This article reviews the genealogy and main assumptions of trauma culture in view of its extensive application during the recent COVID-19 pandemic. First, it summarises the crystallisation and development of the contemporary doctrine of (psychological) trauma in clinical psychiatry, psychopathology and psychoanalysis. It then presents the (problematic) translational concept of cultural trauma and offers some reflections on the global understanding of human catastrophes (caused by either collective violence or natural disasters) as traumatic events. Finally, it offers some concluding remarks on the contrast between the (relative) relevance of the trauma narrative in accounting for individual suffering and its (limited) performance in reflecting the final course of a health crisis that in its early stages seemed to threaten our way of life and our values. Keywords: epidemics, mental health, narrative, trauma, cultural history
This article reframes the contemporary zombie as a viral monster that unveils and recreates certain aspects of the inconsistent and disruptive workings of COVID-19 and other global pandemics, both real and imagined. This viral idiom, which implicates even modern archetypal zombie narratives like George A. Romero’s genre-defining horror film Night of the Living Dead from 1968, amplifies the classic ontological ambivalence of the zombie as it lumbers in a murky liminal space between life and death, familiarity and abjection, form and chaos. But, in the age of COVID-19, the zombie-virus composite mobilizes and intensifies many of the cultural anxieties and ideological clashes that the current global pandemic goes on to provoke. This is particularly true, and even more troubling, in recent zombie television franchises that offer more sustained visions of long-term suffering and traumatic adaptation in a world irreversibly changed by such viral monsters. To this end, this article offers close readings of one of the most popular incarnations of the viral zombie appearing in recent cultural memory, the so-called “walkers” of The Walking Dead television franchise, whose production and storytelling mechanisms in its final season have been shaped in large part by COVID-19 safety protocols. This article argues that the viral monsters of The Walking Dead television series incarnate a unique and timely iteration of the global outbreak narrative, one that detaches itself from the lingering hope of containment and restoration of an older order and links it instead to ongoing crisis and uncertain futures such as those that accompany what we might call the culture of COVID-19 and its contested concerns about risk, protection, politicization, and power.
This essay posits the existence of two forms of disavowal: cynical and fetishistic. It explores how cynical disavowal involves maintaining a manipulative distance by obscuring the gap between belief and action, allowing the cynic to disavow their investment in an unattainable object and their knowledge of the Other’s lack. In contrast, fetishistic disavowal acknowledges both the objective reality of things and their subjective appearance to the fetishist. Unlike cynicism, fetishism does not rely on obscuring the gap between belief and action; instead, it recognizes and embraces both aspects. In doing so, the essay highlights significant differences between the manipulative distance of the cynic and the self-awareness of the fetishist. It acknowledges the role of cynicism in maintaining the limits and prohibitions within ideology and authority, through examples of banality, while also emphasizing the unique qualities of fetishistic disavowal.
The pandemic has tested the fortitude and resilience of a huge swath of humanity. Even measures undertaken to address the pandemic, primarily the massive vaccination campaigns, revealed a glaring disparity between and within societies. The collective grief, anxiety, and desire for survival have led to creative ways to contend with the crisis. Poetry has served as one of those strategies. This paper revolves around selected pieces of poetry particularly those with themes related to being an Asian migrant worker during the pandemic. The primary themes drawn from the poems are as follows: dealing with the changes brought about by the pandemic; concern over family; job precarity and stigmatization; and hope and resilience.
This chapter argues that all major social and ecological contexts involving science today are entangled in a tripartite frame of science, power, and subjectivity. Events like the COVID-19 pandemics can be analyzed by how knowledge, governance, and changes in practices of collective living come to bear on everyday life. This chapter begins by suggesting that the realities exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic existed well before—thereby questioning its salience as a major event. The chapter then discusses some aspects of the identitarian politics around vaccination in North America using the work of philosopher Michel Foucault. This chapter argues that politics and subjectivity are forgotten dimensions of sense-making when it comes to issues of collective existence involving scientific knowledges/practices. Educators need to engage questions of collective existence, along with the questions of politics and subjectivity associated with them, in order to be relevant in times of precarity.
La pandemia de COVID-19 ha tenido un impacto devastador en todo el mundo, causando millones de contagios, muertes y crisis. En la provincia del Cusco-Perú, esta complejidad ha provocado una serie de cambios en la estructura social y en las relaciones interpersonales. El estudio que se presenta en este documento propuso comprender las estrategias de adaptación humana que se han desarrollado en el contexto de la pandemia en la provincia del Cusco. Para ello, se entrevistó a una muestra no probabilística de 40 personas mayores de edad, seleccionadas de los ocho distritos de la provincia. Los métodos utilizados fueron fenomenológicos y etnometodológico; para la obtención de la información se empleó la entrevista a profundidad. La categorización se seleccionó de manera paralela al recojo de datos y la codificación fue por medio del software Atlas Ti. Los resultados del estudio muestran que la pandemia ha provocado cambios en las características personales y sociales, evidenciados en modificaciones en su estado de ánimo, preocupaciones y prioridades. También expresaron una mayor conciencia de su propia vulnerabilidad y una mayor solidaridad con los demás, roles familiares disimiles, obligando a las familias a adaptarse a nuevas formas de convivencia, donde existe un aumento y distorsión de responsabilidades, comunicación interpersonal plasmada en el limitado contacto físico y la interacción social, por medio de una dependencia de las tecnologías de la comunicación y de un aumento de la respuesta individualidad y el uso de medicamentos tanto naturales como químicos para contrarrestar y sobrellevar el virus. En general, las conclusiones del estudio proponen que los habitantes del Cusco han desarrollado una serie de estrategias de adaptación para hacer frente a la pandemia. Estas han tenido un impacto significativo en sus vidas personales y el contexto social.
The Covid-19 pandemic, which was first identified at the beginning of January 2020, is a major health crisis that has affected the whole world for more than two years. While the Covid-19 pandemic caused the biggest economic crisis of the century on a global scale, tourism is one of the sectors most negatively affected by this process. In this study, by giving general information about the Covid-19 pandemic, the effects of the pandemic on the world tourism economy were examined. Accordingly, in the study, situation of tourism before the pandemic and during the pandemic period and the effects of the pandemic on the world tourism economy were examined based on secondary data. In this context, reports, documents and previous studies on this subject were scanned with the literature review method in the study. As a result of the examination, it was determined that the Covid-19 pandemic has deeply affected the world tourism economy in the tourism seasons of 2020 and 2021. However, in this process, it was seen that countries do not want to lose their income from tourism activities due to the economy and other factors measures have been taken by supporting the tourism sector with many financial, consultancy, and supportive packages, especially taxes. Finally, it was seen that tourism professionals predicted that the year of 2022 will be the year of recovery in the tourism sector compared to the previous two years. Based on these results obtained as a result of the study and the view that 2022 will be the year of recovery in the tourism sector compared to the previous two years, inferences were made about what kind of structural changes will occur in the tourism sector. In this context, it is thought that the study will also guide tourism practitioners as well as its contribution to tourism literature.
Tulisan ini bertujuan untuk menganalisis stigmatisasi yang terjadi pada jenazah positif Covid-19 yang terjadi di masyarakat. Metode penelitian yang digunakan dalam tulisan ini adalah metode penelitian kualitatif dengan pendekatan fenomenologi. Data yang didapat dalam penelitian ini adalah pasien meninggal dengan status positif Covid-19 di beberapa daerah. Hasil dari penelitian ini adalah derasnya arus informasi tentang Covid-19 mengakibatkan stigmatisasi di masyarakat. Gabungan antara ketakutan, kurangnya informasi, sikap responsif masyarakat dan masifnya pemberitaan Covid-19 terutama bahaya yang ditimbulkan. Mengisi satu ruang yang sama dan menyebabkan simulasi dalam simulakrum. Dalam kasus tertentu, benturan informasi-informasi yang ada di masyarakat dan di sosial media atau media elektronik lainnya dapat menimbulkan ketidakpercayaan masyarakat terhadap Covid-19. Ketidakpercayaan juga dapat menjelma menjadi sikap "denial" di masyarakat, di mana kondisi yang mencerminkan bahwa terdapat korban yang meninggal karena Covid-19 tetapi sikap masyarakat seakan tidak mempedulikan sebab dan akibat Covid-19. Keraguan masyarakat muncul ketika pasien non-Covid-19 meninggal dunia ketika dirawat di rumah sakit namun statusnya ditetapkan menjadi positif Covid-19. Sehingga lama-kelamaan akan menimbulkan konflik antara rumah sakit dan masyarakat.
In March 2020, due to COVID-19, English faculty in higher education institutions (HEI) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) had to migrate to and administer online courses despite limited familiarity and training in online delivery. Moving online, teachers had to negotiate their long-held beliefs, teaching practices and roles as they navigated a new educational context, thus further reinterpreting their professional identities. In the face of change, teachers may experience a sense of insecurity that influences their identity development, and research is still early in understanding teacher identity formation, factors impacting identity changes, and the role of identities in teachers’ motivation and learning (Schutz et al., 2018). Therefore, this research draws on identity theory to examine how 14 English faculty members in HEIs in the UAE negotiated their beliefs, roles, and practices as they shifted online due to the pandemic. Through a qualitative exploratory multimethod approach, including mind maps and semi-structured interviews, and thematic analysis, my findings led to the development of a new framework instrumental in understanding the reshaping of teacher identities through the forced transition from FTF to online teaching. My research positioned teachers’ online identities on a Teacher Identity Continuum (TIC) with Digital Adapters, Digital Resisters, and Digital Ambivalents, including a spectrum of related beliefs, roles and practices. This framework has several practical implications for teachers, teacher education, and institutional leadership as they manage transitions and times of change.
Virus, in the form of a preassigned body without organs, predates the arrival of human species, and evolved on earth approximately three billion years ago, currently having an estimated variation of hundred million types. Humans form an insignificant subsection of the 'virosphere' (Crawford). Equipped with the knowledge of all organisms, the SARS-CoV-2 (my focus in this paper) virus combines with angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) which in turn identifies the tissues vulnerable to the infection. Once in the cell, it expropriates the cell's mechanism, makes numerous copies of itself and invades other cells. Immune cells in the battle against the virus disrupt the flow of oxygen to all other parts of the body. In most cases, there is inflammation of the alveolus, its broken walls lessen oxygen intake, and the patient ends up in the ventilator. Eventually, the virus strikes all the organs with differing intensities-the lungs, the heart, the brain, the kidneys, the gut, the eyes. The animal virus merging with its human counterpart mirrors "interkingdoms, unnatural participations" where "Nature operates-against itself" (Deleuze and Guattari). Virus is anti-genealogy. Viruses bring the human and the non-human others together in a rhizomatic relation where genetic information and DNA are exchanged. Viruses, as BwO, de-structure the essential frame and subjectivity of humans. Both the human individual and viruses share a common plane where none possesses any essential reality and unfolds as an interactive space for multiple organic and inorganic exchanges. The only "enemy" of the virus is the organism, and as indeterminate, pure lawlessness it attacks the fundamental organization-the cellular and the molecular. Like the body without organs, viruses are anonymous/acephalous with its undying insistence to repeat/multiply and maximize connections. Virus is pure desire oriented towards reducing the infected body to its elemental form (compost/ash and others). Each organ transmutes into a body reacting against other bodies and against the whole body containing all organs. Claire Colebrook observes that a virus is so alive, "so lacking in boundaries and limits" that it does not qualify as a living being. My paper seeks to investigate the role of the virus in reducing/expanding the human to such an extent that it becomes one with the ground, and returns to its originary existence. I further propose that pandemics throughout history have initiated a re-imagination of human continuance; pandemics activate the human-toward-extinction by inducing the immortal virus through (consumed/to be consumed/ living) animals within the human. Viruses have existed on earth for the last hundred million years and will continue to do so as long as earth has life. They have been responsible for the construction and ruination of the biological human being. This paper desires to accentuate that every time there is a pandemic, human beings should reconsider the issues of extinction rather than concentrate simply on its socioeconomic upheavals. Viruses combine humans and non-human others together in a rhizomatic relation where genetic information and DNA are exchanged. On this plane, the curve of human growth is neither evolutionary, nor progressive; it is rather "a question of passages, bridges, and tunnels; a question neither of regression nor of progression but of 'becomings': 'There is no plasmic finality…. Life knows no finality, no finished crystallisation'" (Pearson 152). Therefore, all
This study is dedicated to the development of (dis)trust of the measures taken by the authorities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using the concept of biopolitics, we analyze reactions of social network users and their communication with the authorities. For this purpose, throughout one year we have studied posts in one of the official public pages of Saint Petersburg authorities. The posts concerned various anti-COVID measures: vaccination, mask requirement, distance learning, and other restrictions, and comments on them. For the analysis, we used the AntConc program. Based on the findings, we identified three discourses. The most prominent two are those of dissent and resistance. These are based on users’ distrust, doubts, and unwillingness to follow the prescribed measures. Within these two discourses, users communicate with different public authorities more actively. Communication follows the same pattern: in response to questions, the authorities provide template references to legislative decrees regulating specific restrictions and vaccination, which does not build trust and further exacerbates the discontent among users. The discourse of consent is based on expressing solidarity with the measures taken and revolves around some users persuading others of the benefits of vaccination, social distancing, and face masks. As there are virtually no opportunities for active and legal resistance to biopolitical measures, we presume that in practice discursive resistance results in the invention of evasion tactics: not wearing a mask, not vaccinating, trying to get a hold of a fake QR code, etc. La construction biopolitique de la confiance et de la méfiance : Le discours public sur la gouvernance pendant la pandémie à Saint-Pétersbourg Cette étude est consacrée à la construction de la confiance et de la méfiance à l'égard des mesures prises par les autorités pendant la pandémie de COVID-19, dans le cadre de la ville russe de Saint-Pétersbourg. Les auteurs analysent les réactions des utilisateurs des réseaux sociaux et leur communication avec les autorités sous l’angle de la biopolitique, plaçant cet article à la croisée des idées de Foucault et d’Agamben. Pour ce faire, les auteurs ont étudié pendant un an les messages postés sur l'un des groupes de réseaux sociaux officiels des autorités de Saint-Pétersbourg. Ils concernaient diverses mesures anti-COVID : vaccination, port du masque, apprentissage en ligne, ainsi que d'autres restrictions. Les résultats de l’analyse opérée avec le programme AntConc ont permis aux auteurs d’identifier trois discours, dont les deux plus importants sont ceux de la dissidence et de la résistance, qui augmentent grandement la propension des utilisateurs à communiquer avec les autorités. Les auteurs font l’inventaire du continuum de discours qu’ils ont relevés, allant des discours libéraux et orientés vers la compréhension de la biopolitique comme une norme de gestion efficace aux discours disciplinaires et à la perception des mesures et des restrictions comme des tentatives de contrôle. Ces derniers discours sont fondés sur la méfiance, les doutes et la réticence des utilisateurs à suivre les mesures prescrites. La communication des autorités, qui se concentrait sur ses actes législatifs, n'a pas suscité la confiance et a augmenté le mécontentement général, tandis que les utilisateurs, voyant un manque de résistance active aux mesures biopolitiques, ont eu recours à des tactiques d'évasion telles que le refus du port de masques et l'utilisation de faux codes QR.
This paper focuses on different concepts of sensus communis and their relationship with the conditions of political reality. An attempt is made to show that Gadamer’s and Arendt’s political conception of sensus communis is too dependent on political conditions and the homogeneity and unity of the community, and thus cannot exist under post-political conditions. The paper seeks to defend Immanuel Kant’s aesthetic conception of sensus communis, demonstrating that the disinterested judgment of beauty exists regardless of political circumstances. Based on this, the paper reviews practices existing in post-politics that attempt to use the aesthetic understanding of sensus communis for the purposes of political unity. It also draws attention to the understanding of sensus communis in different contexts, arguing that the concept and its interpretation often become obscured across various contexts.
In a seemingly tranquil cottage along the coast, Lucy Kirkwood’s The Children (2016) delves into the profound anxieties and vulnerabilities arising from an ecological crisis. Set in a post-nuclear disaster Britain, the play follows three retired nuclear scientists grappling with the consequences of their past decisions. Amidst a world in chaos, Kirkwood portrays the fragile relationships and emotional struggles of her characters, reflecting the anxieties prevalent in our own reality. Drawing on affect studies theories—such as Lauren Berlant’s “cruel optimism” and “inconvenience,” Sianne Ngai’s “ugly feelings” and Clare Hemmings’ “affective dissonance”—this analysis explores how these concepts shed light on the characters’ experiences. Berlant’s ideas help us understand the characters’ necessity to adhere to routine as a means to avoid confronting larger, more pressing issues. Ngai’s “ugly feelings” expose the anxiety and discomfort that pervade their lives, while Hemmings’ “affective dissonance” highlights the internal conflicts and moral dilemmas they face. By emphasising these struggles, the play invites audiences to reflect on their own vulnerabilities and consider the need for collective action in the face of adversity. Deliberately refusing catharsis, the play underscores the persistence of unresolved crises, prompting viewers to engage with the issues presented on stage and consider their implications beyond the theatre.
When the coronavirus pandemic was declared as a Public Health Emergency, educational ministries and institutions unanimously opted for distance education as a solution to carry on teaching and learning worldwide. Flexible hybrid courses (HyFlex) are one of the innovative teaching devices that have emerged since the health crisis and aimed to achieve educational continuity and satisfy learners’ various needs. Based on a research model inspired by the different extensions of the technology acceptance model (TAM), we conducted a study with 249 students from the faculty of medicine and pharmacy affiliated with Mohammed First University in Oujda (Morocco) who learned in a HyFlex environment during the 2020–2021 fall semester. The study addressed students’ perceptions regarding the implementation of blended-learning and its dimensions. It aimed to analyse the perceptions of usefulness and ease of use of the HyFlex model and the facilitating conditions and individual characteristics, chiefly the availability of technological resources and the mastery of the computational tool on the behavioural intention of adopting this approach. The results show that attitude, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and availability of technological resources are the main factors favouring the acceptance of e-learning by the surveyed students.
Reflecting critically on 50 years of the Royal Geographical Society (with Institute of British Geographers) (RGS‐IBG) Population Geography Research Group (PopGRG), and drawing on interviews with leading population geographers of the British Isles, this paper identifies defining features of Population Geography that attest to its longevity: personal connections and material production; fluidity and adaptability over time and through interdisciplinary contexts; and utility, vitality and relevance of the subdiscipline. We argue that continuation of care, material production and nimbleness can sustain the subdiscipline in the context of ongoing neoliberalisation across Higher Education. To remain vital, Population Geography must also decolonise and promote ‘population thinking’ to more boldly and critically attend to contemporary global challenges.
This paper examines how Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, building on Stanley Fish's reader-response theoretical insights in "interpretive communities", shapes the readers' reception of the novel coronavirus pandemic. It argues that tagging the virus as the "Frankenstein virus" is informed by imaginative resemblances between the narratives of Victor Frankenstein's scientific engagement and the coronavirus pandemic. Therefore, referencing Frankenstein nowadays underlines the terror that is haunting the public imagination upon the coronavirus outbreak and its mutations into more lethal variants. It also reveals how the novel makes its readers susceptible to promote the hypothesis on the coronavirus's human engineering and manipulation. The paper also explains how Frankenstein manages the contagion embedded in Victor's monster by 'othering' it, which helps the reader recognize the importance of the preventive measures, such as self-distancing and stay-at-home orders to downplay the spread of the virus and promote the psychological and physical wellbeing of the public.
Slavoj Žižek, who is regarded as one of the popular names of the last quarter century, writes his works and expresses his thoughts in a wide range of fields including philosophy, psychoanalysis, cinema, politics and culture. His interconnection of these fields in his works and speeches, as well as his unique style, has resulted in his reaching a wide audience on a global scale in the field of philosophy/thought. In addition to his distance from religion, Žižek's analyses in the theo-political field also reveal remarkable approaches and arguments with the interrelation of the mentioned fields. This study focuses on Žižek's analyses of the issue (or question) of Judaism in direct connection with this field. In addition to this issue, his unique perspective and position on anti-Semitism and Israel represent the other main topics of the study. Although it may be difficult to establish a direct connection between the field of philosophy/thought and the theo-political field, it would not be wrong to say that Žižek has overcome this difficulty as in many subjects and texts. Therefore, this study is an attempt to understand Žižek in these three contexts in which thoughts and opinions emerge in the light of theoretical and actual developments.
During the years that the Covid-19 pandemic lasted, we could see a discursive and textual orientation towards future states of affairs in action. After briefly introducing the research domain of semiotics of the future and characterising the Covid-19 pandemic in semiotic terms, the article focuses on the postpandemic future and discusses some discursive phenomena that originated in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic dealing with future states of affairs.
This study aims to determine the dysfunction of the village recognition and subsidiarity principles, particularly in Kalurahan Sumbermulyo, Bambanglipuro, Bantul, due to the annual issuance of the Permendes PDTT regarding the priority of using Dana Desa and the increasing intervention through Presidential Regulation Number 104 of 2021, specifically Article 5 paragraph (4). This research employed descriptive qualitative methods with an interpretive approach. The results showed fluctuations in the use of Dana Desa. From 2015 to 2018, Dana Desa were solely used for infrastructure development. Starting in 2019, in addition to infrastructure development, Dana Desa were also utilized for community empowerment. In 2020, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, village funds were refocused on pandemic response efforts. In 2021, Dana Desa were used to accelerate the achievement of the SDGs Desa. In 2022, the use of Dana Desa experienced significant intervention through Presidential Regulation Number 104 of 2021. In practice, the government of Kalurahan Sumbermulyo devised strategies to use Dana Desa in 2022, not only to accommodate community aspirations resulting from the MusDes but also to fulfill the mandate of the Presidential Regulation.
As the world transitions from a US-led unipolar system to a multipolar order, the intersection of political and military balances shapes the landscape of global stability and order. The rise of revisionist powers and the erosion of Western dominance challenge the status quo, while economic crises and the COVID-19 pandemic amplify uncertainties. Geoeconomics gains importance amid the clash between liberal globalisation and protectionist trends, as corporate capital is leveraged for geopolitical aims, weaponising economic power for political ends. This paper investigates the contemporary international order through the prism of intersecting geoeconomic and geopolitical forces, unveiling three core logics that underpin the formation and functionality of this order. First, the logic of order exhibits the intricate interplay between networks and territorial arrangements offering us insights into the meaning, architects, and the ways of making and unmaking of the international order. Second, the logic of control delineates how states recalibrate regulatory mechanisms amid market crises, leading to nationalist and populist inclinations worldwide. Third, through the case study of the COVID-19 pandemic, we show how the logic of exceptionalism capitalises on pandemic-induced uncertainties and empowers states to wield sovereignty in implementing controlling measures. We propose that the logic of order mirrors geopolitical configurations, the logic of control reflects geoeconomic dynamics, and the logic of exceptionalism amplifies state power in times of uncertainty when the logic of order and that of control are disrupted. Drawing on theoretical perspectives from both realism and liberalism, we dissect the complexities inherent in the present order, which remains largely rooted in liberal principles. Despite mounting challenges, the enduring norms of modernity provide a potential bulwark against the erosion of the liberal order. Through the exposition of the three logics of order, control, and exceptionalism, and by integrating geopolitics, geoeconomics, and political theory, this paper offers an alternative to the conventional perspective that views international order as being constituted of the three pillars of power, institutions, and norms.
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