Skip to main content
University of Michigan Press Ebook Collection

University of Michigan Press
Ebook Collection
Browse Books Help
Get access to more books. Log in with your institution.

Your use of this Platform is subject to the Fulcrum Terms of Service.

Share the story of what Open Access means to you

a graphic of a lock that is open, the universal logo for open access

University of Michigan needs your feedback to better understand how readers are using openly available ebooks. You can help by taking a short, privacy-friendly survey.

  1. Home
  2. Books
  3. Being Human during COVID

Being Human during COVID

Kristin Ann Hass, Editor
Open Access Open Access
Read Book
  • EPUB (4.42 MB)
  • PDF (11.3 MB)
Buy Book

  • Overview

  • Contents

  • Funder Information

  • Stats

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.
 
  • Cover
  • Title Page
  • Copyright Page
  • Contents
  • Acknowledgments
  • Introduction: Living with the Virus That Knows How We See Each Other
  • Part I: Naming
    • Chapter 1. This Virus Has No Eyes: Telling Stories in the Land of Monsters
    • Chapter 2. Facing Our Pandemic
    • Chapter 3. Living on Loss of Privileges: What We Learned in Prison
    • Chapter 4. Not Even Past: Archiving 2020 in Real Time
  • Part II: Waiting
    • Chapter 5. Waiting = Death: COVID-19, the Struggle for Racial Justice, and the AIDS Pandemic
    • Chapter 6. Buddhism, the Pandemic, and the Demise of the Future Tense
    • Chapter 7. COVID Diary: Hands, Nets, and Other Devices
    • Chapter 8. Social Distances in Between: Excerpts from My COVID-19 Diaries
  • Part III: Grieving
    • Chapter 9. Grief and the Importance of Real Things during COVID-19
    • Chapter 10. Looking Backward in Order to Look Forward: Lessons about Humanity and the Humanities from the Plague at Athens
    • Chapter 11. Protests, Prayers, and Protections: Three Visitations during COVID-19
    • Chapter 12. Soliloquous Solipsism
  • Part IV: More Waiting/Sheltering
    • Chapter 13. Finding Home between the Vincent Chin Case and COVID-19
    • Chapter 14. Caged with the Tiger King: The Media Business and the Pandemic
    • Chapter 15. Prosthetics for Right Now
  • Part V: Resisting
    • Chapter 16. COVID-19’s Attack on Women and Feminists’ Response: The Pandemic, Inequality, and Activism
    • Chapter 17. The Virus That Kills Twice: COVID-19 and Domestic Violence under Governmental Impunity in Nicaragua
    • Chapter 18. “Our Steps Come from Long Ago”: Living Histories of Feminisms and the Fight against COVID in Brazil
    • Chapter 19. Making Sense of Sex and Gender Differences in Biomedical Research on COVID-19
    • Chapter 20. Digital Encounters from an Intersectional Perspective: Black Women in Argentina
    • Chapter 21. The Media Discourse on Women-Led Countries in the COVID-19 Pandemic: Using Germany as an Example
    • Chapter 22. Coronavirus Capitalism and the Patriarchal Pandemic in India: Why We Need a “Feminism for the 99%” That Centers Social Reproduction
    • Chapter 23. Whose Challenge Is #ChallengeAccepted? Performative Online Activism during the COVID-19 Pandemic and Its Erasures
    • Chapter 24. COVID-19: Nigerian Women and the Fight for Holistic Policy
  • Part VI: Not Waiting
    • Chapter 25. COVID-19 through an Asian American Lens: Scapegoating, Harassment, and the Limits of the Asian American Response
    • Chapter 26. The High Stakes of Blame: Medieval Parallels to a Modern Crisis
    • Chapter 27. Unmuting Voices in a Pandemic: Linguistic Profiling in a Moment of Crisis
    • Chapter 28. Quarantine Rebellions: Performance Innovation in the Pandemic
  • Contributors
  • Index
We would like to recognize the generous support of the College of Literature, Science and the Arts and the Michigan Humanities Collaboratory for the Fulcrum edition of this volume.
Citable Link
Published: 2021
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license
ISBN(s)
  • 978-0-472-03878-7 (paper)
  • 978-0-472-90250-7 (open access)
Subject
  • Theater and Performance
  • Anthropology
  • Literary Studies
  • American Studies
  • Women's Studies
  • Archaeology
  • African American Studies
  • Middle and Near Eastern Studies

Resources

Search and Filter Resources

Limit your search

  • This Virus Has No Eyes: Telling Stories in the Land of Monsters3
  • Facing our Pandemic16
  • Living on Loss of Privileges: What We Learned in Prison3
  • Not Even Past: Archiving 2020 in Real Time5
  • COVID Diary: Hands, Nets, and Other Devices18
  • Social Distances in Between: Excerpts from my COVID-19 Diaries8
  • Grief and the Importance of Real Things during COVID-198
  • Protests, Prayers, and Protections: Three Visitations During COVID4
  • Soliloquous Solipsism: An Attempt to Put Words to a Loss of Words10
  • Prosthetics for Right Now6
  • Un-Muting Voices in a Pandemic: Linguistic Profiling in a Moment of Crisis2
  • Acting Out: Performance and Political Mobilization in the Pandemic7

  • painting18
  • 202010
  • Coronavirus10
  • COVID10
  • Isolation10
  • more Keyword »

  • Cogswell, Jim18
  • Tanielian, Melanie10
  • Fadlalla, Amal Hassan8
  • Tobier, Nick6
  • unknown5
  • more Creators »

  • image82
  • video8

  • 202032
  • 19352
  • 20151
  • 20211

This is the en.blacklight.search.search_results_header

« Previous | 1 - 20 of 90 | Next »
First Appearance Section (Earliest First) Section (Last First) Format (A-Z) Format (Z-A) Year (Oldest First) Year (Newest First)
Number of results to display per page
10 per page 20 per page 50 per page 100 per page
View results as:
List List Gallery Gallery

Search Results

World map of arcing red flight paths labeled “horrifying new map shows no country is safe from coronavirus’ deadly tentacles.”

BBC debunks a viral image from Ireland’s The Sun

From This Virus Has No Eyes: Telling Stories in the Land of Monsters

Figure 1.1. The BBC debunks a viral image from Ireland’s The Sun. BBC News source: “Coronavirus: How a Misleading Map Went Global,” February 19, 2020.

Black-and-white film still of a man holding a woman by the shoulders to show her something in the distance.

Night of the Living Dead (1968), 1

From This Virus Has No Eyes: Telling Stories in the Land of Monsters

Figure 1.2. Still from the Night of the Living Dead. “They’re coming to get you, Barbara.” Directed by George A. Romero (1968; Image Ten).

Black-and-white film still of Ben’s face, at night and in shadow.

Night of the Living Dead (1968), 2

From This Virus Has No Eyes: Telling Stories in the Land of Monsters

Figure 1.3. Still from the Night of the Living Dead. Ben, surviving. Directed by George A. Romero (1968; Image Ten).

Image File Icon
Open external resource at https://www.instagram.com

Twitter post, Robertino Rodriguez, April 4, 2020

From Facing our Pandemic

Image File Icon
Open external resource at https://www.instagram.com

Instagram post, Megan Patterson, March 21, 2020

From Facing our Pandemic

Image File Icon
Open external resource at https://twitter.com

Twitter post, @genithecrankynurse, March 23, 2020

From Facing our Pandemic

In an extreme close-up, a young dark-haired white woman gazes intensely at the camera. Her skin is blotchy and red, and there is a distinct mark across the bridge of her nose and under her eyes, apparently residual marks from a tight mask. The white color of what appears to be a hazmat suit contrasts starkly with her very dark eyes and thick dark eyebrows. Her expression could be read as calm, determined, fearful, and/or shocked.

Screenshot: "Courage Is Beautiful," Amanda

From Facing our Pandemic

Figure 2.1. April 8, 2020 screenshot of Amanda from “Dove: Courage is Beautiful” video, Ogilvy London UK.

In a tight close-up, a middle-aged Black woman with a small golden nose ring and expressive eyes gazes solemnly at the camera, her chin resting on her left hand. She wears a protective hair net. Her face is scarred and tear-stained.

Screenshot: "Courage Is Beautiful," Patricia

From Facing our Pandemic

Figure 2.2. April 8, 2002 screenshot of Patricia from “Dove: Courage is Beautiful” video, Ogilvy London UK.

Image File Icon
Open external resource at https://www.instagram.com

"Waiting with You" from portrait series "Words At The Window: Self Isolation And The Coronavirus"

From Facing our Pandemic

Image File Icon
Open external resource at https://www.instagram.com

Nikolas Ray and Peter Devito, from the Black Lives Matter series, Instagram post @peterdevito, July 14, 2020

From Facing our Pandemic

Image File Icon
Open external resource at https://www.instagram.com

Cozy and Peter Devito, from the Black Lives Matter series, Instagram post, June 22, 2020

From Facing our Pandemic

A young white woman with her hair pulled back into a ponytail wears protective gear as she pulls a stretcher toward a hospital vehicle. A young man in a grey t-shirt is seen from behind as he holds a white sheet to conceal the COVID-19 patient being moved on a yellow stretcher.

Person taken by stretcher to a waiting ambulance from a nursing facility, Kirkland Washington, February 29, 2020

From Facing our Pandemic

Figure 2.3. Nursing facility, Kirland, Washington, February 29, 2020. Courtesy of Elaine Thompson/AP.

A middle-aged Black woman wearing a protective mask gazes toward the viewer. With one hand, she holds her mask in place. With the other, she holds a bouquet of yellow roses and a posed photograph of a bearded white man in her other hand. The man in the photograph—presumably now deceased—is smiling.

Nurses and healthcare workers mourn their colleagues during a demonstration outside Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan on April 10, 2020 in New York City.

From Facing our Pandemic

Figure 2.4. Nurses and healthcare workers mourn and remember their colleagues who died during the outbreak of the novel coronavirus during a demonstration outside Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan on April 10, 2020 in New York City. Photo by Johannes Eisele/AFP via Getty Images.

Aerial view of a yellow Komatsu dirt excavator truck stopped near a nearly block-long ditch in the parched ground. A long white ladder leads from the surface of the ground to the bottom of the ditch; no bodies are visible. Across the street is a grand, old red brick home, apparently deserted.

New York City Buries Dead on Heart Island, April 9, 2020

From Facing our Pandemic

Figure 2.5. Burials take place on Hart Island on April 9, 2020 in the Bronx borough of New York. Photo by Andrew Theodorakis/Getty Images.

In stark relief to the dark sky behind it, a bright light illuminates a monument marked by graffiti in multiple colors, projecting onto it the face of a Black man, his features both obscuring and blending in with the stones of the monument. Atop the monument is a statue of a figure on horseback. Projected in white light on the horse are the letters “BLM.” Just below the horse and above the forehead of the man’s image is the phrase “Black Lives Matter.” Several people appear at the base of the monument.

Image of George Floyd projected on the base of the statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee on Monument Avenue, Monday, June 8, 2020, in Richmond, Va

From Facing our Pandemic

Figure 2.6. An image of George Floyd is projected on the base of the statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee on Monument Avenue, Monday, June 8, 2020, in Richmond, Va. Courtesy of AP Photo/Steve Helber.

Two young female Black dancers, one with long hair and one with short hair or hair pulled back, appear in front of a monument covered in colorful layered graffiti which reads in part “save black lives,” “Stop white supremacy,” “Fuck pigs,” “FTP,” and “BLM.” The dancers are dressed in black leotards with classical tutus and are posed en pointe in pointe shoes. Each one has a single arm lifted overhead. Their extended arms are in a ballet position with their hands clenched in fists.

Kennedy George & Ava Holloway, June 5, 2020

From Facing our Pandemic

Figure 2.7. In this June 5, 2020 photo, fourteen-year-old Black ballerinas Ava Holloway and Kennedy George pose in protest at the Robert E. Lee monument in Richmond, VA. Photo by Julia Rendleman/Reuters.

In this black and white photograph, we see the image of an elderly person’s wrinkled face peering out of a window. The subject apparently sits at a desk, as we can see some letters and papers. The face, framed by the window pane, is in soft focus. Reflected in the window we see other buildings and other windows.

From "The Human Face of Covid: New York City, 2020"

From Facing our Pandemic

Figure 2.8. Roxie, 90, the Upper West Side, New York, March 30, from “The Human Face of Covid: New York 2020.” Photo: Peter Turnley.

In this black and white photograph, a person wearing pants and sneakers, huddled on the street and wrapped in a blanket so that the entire upper body is concealed, sits on a ledge outside a large ground floor window on an otherwise deserted city street. Behind the person, in the windows of the building, is an oversized poster featuring a photographic image of a man’s face with a slight scowl.

Man outside Midnight Mission, Skid Row, Los Angeles, 2020

From Facing our Pandemic

Page 60 →Figure 2.9. Man outside Midnight Mission, Skid Row, LA, 2020. Photo courtesy of Michael Christopher Brown.

In this extreme close-up of body paint on a torso, a Black person’s chest is painted with a peeling image of the American flag, aligned vertically. The field of blue on the flag, which appears on the upper left side of the chest, has white lines to represent stars. The figure whose body is painted appears to be in the posture of a runner, elbows bent and the hands curved in tension.

Altar of Stars, Part 2

From Facing our Pandemic

Figure 2.10. Altar of Stars Part 2. Photo courtesy of Vanessa Leroy.

Artaysia Mallisham: Self Care

From Living on Loss of Privileges: What We Learned in Prison

  • « Previous
  • Next »
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
University of Michigan Press Contact Us

UMP EBC

  • Browse and Search
  • About UMP EBC
  • Impact and Usage

Follow Us

  • UMP EBC Newsletter
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • YouTube

Quicklinks

  • Help/FAQ
  • Title List
  • MARC Records
  • KBART Records
  • Usage Stats
© 2024, Regents of the University of Michigan · Accessibility · Preservation · Privacy · Terms of Service
Powered by Fulcrum logo · Log In
x This site requires cookies to function correctly.