Coronavirus and the Viral Vagility of Prejudice

SYNOPSIS

The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 and the COVID-19 pandemic galvanised global containment, and prophylactic action centred on the strategies of self-isolation and social distancing. The paper grapples with the viral vagility of prejudice in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. In so doing, I meditate on the texture of structural violence, exploring how horrific forms of social exclusion and marginalisation exacerbated as the pandemic gained traction. In pointing out this intensification, I take a literary detour to gesture at the ‘already there’ normalised to euphemised forms of violence that were amplified as states enjoined the citizens to retreat into relative privileged isolation and distancing.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Aditya Bharadwaj is the Professor of Anthropology and Sociology at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva. His current research examines infertility, childlessness, and healthcare seeking in resource-poor settings in Nepal and India.

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