The COVID Spectrum: Theoretical and Experiential Reflections From India and Beyond

359 Pages·2021·2.956 MB·English

by  Kanchana Mahadevan, Satishchandra Kumar, Meher Bhoot, Rajesh Kharat

Meher Bhoot is Associate Professor and Head at the Department of
German, University of Mumbai since 2013. Her areas of
specialization are German Literature with a focus on Literature of the
German Minorities, Postcolonial Studies, and Culture Studies, and
her areas of interest are European Cultural History and European
History of Art. She is an active member of the German Institute’s
partnership with the Universities of Göttingen and Freiburg in
Germany. Under the aegis of this partnership, she was a Guest
Professor at the Department of Intercultural German Studies,
University of Göttingen, Germany in 2017. She is a DAAD Fellow
since 2004 and has also been a recipient of the Rotary Cultural and
Ambassadorial Scholarship (1997–98). Apart from her published
articles, some of the co-edited volumes include Revisiting Günter
Grass: Voices from India and Germany, Interkulturelle Momente, and
Einfach menschlich. She has also coedited textbooks for short
courses on teaching Marathi to non-native speakers, including
Communicative Marathi for Nurses and Communicative Marathi for
Rickshaw and Taxi Drivers, Communicative Marathi for Government
Officials and Communicative Marathi for Bank Employees. She is the
co-editor of Sambhāṣaṇ, an interdisciplinary humanities online
journal of the University of Mumbai.
Rajesh Kharat is Dean, Humanities, University of Mumbai (on
Deputation), Professor and former Chairperson, Centre for South
Asian Studies, Jawarharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He has an
MA in Political Science from University of Pune and has completed
his MPhil and PhD from CSAS, JNU, New Delhi. He has been
actively teaching since 1991. He has published several books and
over 30 research papers. He has authored three books, namely,
Bhutan in SAARC: Role of a Small State in Regional Alliance
(1999/2000), Foreign Policy of Bhutan (2005), and Tibetan Refugees
in India (2003). He has edited two books, Bhutan: Political Transition
and Democratisation (2016) and Bhutan: Contemporary Issues and
Perspectives (2015). He has completed five major research projects
in India and abroad on themes related to contemporary South Asia.
He recently established the School of International Relations and
Strategic Studies at the University of Mumbai. He is also the
honorary editor of Sambhāṣaṇ an interdisciplinary humanities online
journal of the University of Mumbai. He is also Visitor’s
Representative at the Executive Council of Mahatma Gandhi Central
University, Bihar.
Satishchandra Kumar is Professor and Head at the Department of
Applied Psychology & Counselling Centre, University of Mumbai. He
is also the former Co-ordinator of the Mahatma Gandhi Peace
Centre. He is the recipient of the Summer Fellowship from Albert
Ellis Institute New York. He also had a scholarship for supervised
training under the Enneagram Professional Training Programme
created by Helen Palmer, San Francisco, USA. He was awarded the
Research Fellowship by the Indian Council of Social Science
Research (ICSSR), New Delhi. He has published in international
peer-reviewed journals like Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology, Psychological Science, British Journal of Guidance and
Counselling, and has contributed to a Sage volume of Eminent
Indian Psychologists: 100 Years of Psychology in India. He has
published more than 40 research papers in national and
internationally renowned journals. Apart from research publications,
some of the edited books include Beyond the Ordinary: Stories that
Inspire and Challenge and Some Outstanding Women of India. His
area of research interest is Industrial/Organizational Psychology,
which includes positive psychology, engagement at the workplace,
and stress and coping at the workplace. He is a reviewer on various
international journals and book boards. He is also the co-editor of
Sambhāṣaṇ, an interdisciplinary humanities online journal of the
University of Mumbai.
Kanchana Mahadevan is Professor and Head at the Department of
Philosophy, University of Mumbai. She was a visiting professor
(2016) and a visiting research scholar (2019) at LUISS University,
Rome. She has been a senior fellow at the Justicia Amplificata,
Goethe University Frankfurt and Bad Homburg (2018) and at the
Moore Institute, National University of Ireland, Galway (2019). She
teaches and researches in feminist philosophy, continental thought,
critical theory, and political philosophy. She also works in the
interdisciplinary areas of aesthetics and film. Her book Between
Femininity and Feminism: Colonial and Postcolonial Perspectives on
Care (2014) examines the relevance of Western feminist philosophy
in the Indian context, while bringing Western feminism into dialogue
with its Indian counterpart. Her publications on Ambedkar explore his
rearticulation of democracy from the Indian perspective. In her
recently published research papers on care ethics, she has explored
its critical potential in relation to health work and the cosmopolitan
character of care. She is the editor of Sambhāṣaṇ, an
interdisciplinary humanities online journal of the University of
Mumbai.

To caregivers…
CONTENTS
Foreword: Light at the End of the Tunnel? Yes, But…
Slavoj Žižek
Introduction: Uncertain Consociates, Unsettling Conditions: The
Predicament of COVID-19
Kanchana Mahadevan, Satishchandra Kumar, Meher Bhoot,
Rajesh Kharat
PART I: THEORIZING THE PANDEMIC
Pause, Privilege, Sacrifice, and a More Caring Society
Maurice Hamington
Conspiracy Theories, Fake News, and COVID-19
Andrew Edgar
Contact in Absentia: Towards a Cybertouch
Brunella Antomarini
Discourse, Crisis and Corona: Some Ethical Implications of the
German Debate on the COVID-19 Pandemic
Ernest W.B. Hess-Lüttich
The Limits of Responsible Caring in the COVID-19 Pandemic
Joan Tronto
Pandemic: Philosophy and Public Policy
Sebastiano Maffettone
COVID-19 and the ‘Return of the Normative’ in Economic Policy
Sanjay G. Reddy
The ‘Great Reset’? Yes, Please—But a Real One!
Slavoj Žižek
PART II: EXPERIENTIAL REFLECTIONS, NARRATIVES AND
STRATEGIES
Reflections on Health and Wellness
A Narrative Group Project from Turkey: Exploring Diverse
Responses to COVID-19
İclal Eskioğlu Aydın
Socialized Healthcare and Medical Internationalism: Cuba and the
Coronavirus
Vinay Lal
COVID-19: Collective Responses to Challenges in Hong Kong
Ada Kot
Resiliency and Abundance: Finding Our Path to Wellness During
COVID-19
Yvonne Sandoval
Discovering the Joy of Living in Times of Crisis, Inspiration for
Growth
Ruxandra Anghel
Learning Narratives
Early Learning Roadmap in Response to COVID-19: Keeping Young
Children Safe, Loved and Learning
Sara Dang
Lessons from COVID-19
Aarti Ramaswami
Re-authoring Confinement: Enduring COVID-19 and Creating a
Collaboratory
Peggy Sax
International Education as a Response to COVID-19: An Indian
Perspective
Arundhati Sharma
Reconnecting in a Post-Pandemic World
Elena Baskina and Masha Tiunova
Coping Strategies
Glimpses of Servant Leadership in Mauritius: A Bold and Effective
Response to COVID-19
Basantsingh Deerpaul
Collective Documentation of Lives During COVID-19 in Kathmandu
Raji Manjari Pokhrel and Prathama Raghavan
Reflections on Inclusiveness
‘Taking Current Strain and Feeling Past Pain, Again’: A Reflection on
Black South African Womxn’s Experience Within the Context of
COVID-19
Jude Clark
Time for a Paradigm Shift: Engaging with Disability in the Aftermath
of COVID-19
Lata Dyaram
The Embers Remain
Kirtika Kain
South Asians in the United Kingdom During COVID-19: A Realist
View
Dave Sookhoo
Plague Is the Great Truth-Teller: How Can We Talk Back?
Alison Scott-Baumann and Hina J. Shahid
EPILOGUE: COVID AND BEYOND
Coronavirus: Retrospect 2040
Christopher Norris
Acknowledgements
Contributors
References