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Being Human during COVID

Kristin Ann Hass, Editor

Open Access

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.

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

Resources

Romando Valeroso: Structure

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

Juan Juan Willis: Venting

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

Color photograph of open scrapbook page featuring mask, report card, and newspaper clipping.

Alfred Wilkinson Wilson scrapbook

From Not Even Past: Archiving 2020 in Real Time

Figure 4.1. Alfred Wilkinson Wilson scrapbook, 1916–21. University of Michigan, Bentley Historical Library.

Color photograph taken through open door of bus, showing driver, an African American man, smiling and giving “thumbs up” sign.

Troy Dixon, U-M bus driver

From Not Even Past: Archiving 2020 in Real Time

Figure 4.2. Troy Dixon, University of Michigan bus driver by Larry Skrdla. University of Michigan, Bentley Historical Library.

Color image of one frame from video showing student with aluminum foil cap and “Dopamine” name tag, standing in front of plain gray background. Sign behind student says, “The Brain” with letter “r” written backward.

Screen capture from “Heavy Headed”

From Not Even Past: Archiving 2020 in Real Time

Figure 4.3. Screen capture from “Heavy Headed” by Tiger Russell Yeh. University of Michigan, Bentley Historical Library.

Color photograph of handwritten journal page.

Photograph of handwritten journal page

From Not Even Past: Archiving 2020 in Real Time

Figure 4.4. Journal of Tiffany Ng, professor of carillon. University of Michigan, Bentley Historical Library.

Email message enclosed in black outline, black and white.

Email message, Jeff Lockart to UM VP of Research Rebecca Cunningham

From Not Even Past: Archiving 2020 in Real Time

Figure 4.5. Email message, Jeff Lockhart to University of Michigan vice president of research Rebecca Cunningham. University of Michigan, Bentley Historical Library.

Inverted swirling cone moving across flat seascape, dwarfing three miniature helicopters shaped like female torsos, three Furies. Print (color) and fulcrum (color).

approaching storm

From COVID Diary: Hands, Nets, and Other Devices

Figure 7.1. Approaching Storm, 2020. Sumi ink, shellac ink, walnut ink, watercolor, gouache, acrylic over digital drawing printed on paper, 30″ × 22″.

Two sets of hands on low structural devices, one with wheels, the other framed by traffic cones, amid myriad tiny floating splotches. Print (color) and fulcrum (color).

hands 1

From COVID Diary: Hands, Nets, and Other Devices

Figure 7.2. Hands 1, 2020. Sumi ink, shellac ink, walnut ink, salt, watercolor, gouache, acrylic over digital drawing printed on paper, 10.5″ × 11″.

Same hands as previous image more clearly defined, one grasping, one pair cradling, set among cloudlike shapes. Print (color) and fulcrum (color).

hands 2

From COVID Diary: Hands, Nets, and Other Devices

Page 125 →Figure 7.3. Hands 2, 2020. Sumi ink, shellac ink, walnut ink, salt, watercolor, gouache, acrylic over digital drawing printed on paper, 10.5″ × 11″.

Same hands as previous image, each a different color, set among cloudlike shapes with a dark net hovering above them. Print (black and white) and fulcrum (color).

hands 3

From COVID Diary: Hands, Nets, and Other Devices

Figure 7.4. Hands 3, 2020. Sumi ink, shellac ink, walnut ink, salt, watercolor, gouache, acrylic over digital drawing printed on paper, 9.5″ × 10.5″.

tally

From COVID Diary: Hands, Nets, and Other Devices

riders

From COVID Diary: Hands, Nets, and Other Devices

sentinel

From COVID Diary: Hands, Nets, and Other Devices

Flames of elongated orange hands rising from pile of disembodied arms and hands, spirals of gray smoke, backed by a line of blue waves. Print (color) and fulcrum (color).

the trojan women: pyre

From COVID Diary: Hands, Nets, and Other Devices

Figure 7.5. The Trojan Women: Pyre, 2020. Sumi ink, shellac ink, salt, watercolor, gouache, acrylic over digital drawing printed on paper, 30″ × 22″.

Recoiling female figure facing pair of disembodied hands cradling rolls of barbed wire carried by chorus of gesturing figures in front of net. Print (color) and fulcrum (color).

the trojan women: hecuba’s grief

From COVID Diary: Hands, Nets, and Other Devices

Figure 7.6. The Trojan Women: Hecuba’s Grief, 2020. Sumi ink, shellac ink, salt, watercolor, gouache, acrylic over digital drawing printed on paper, 30″ × 22″.

Giant open hand linked to colorful patterned form, releasing a floating grid, carried by two small figures toward plinth-like rectangle. Print (black and white) and fulcrum (color).

handheld device

From COVID Diary: Hands, Nets, and Other Devices

Figure 7.7. Handheld Device, 2020. Sumi ink, shellac ink, salt, watercolor, gouache, acrylic over digital drawing printed on paper, 30″ × 22″.

Transmission tower beaming loopy pseudowriting across sky pattern of loops and spirals above group of heads and hands sinking into wavelike lines. Print (black and white) and fulcrum (color).

old news

From COVID Diary: Hands, Nets, and Other Devices

Figure 7.8. Old News, 2020. Sumi ink, watercolor, acrylic over digital drawing printed on paper, 30″ × 44″.

iphigenia: fair winds for troy

From COVID Diary: Hands, Nets, and Other Devices

pictures of the sea (for euripides)

From COVID Diary: Hands, Nets, and Other Devices