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The Pandemic Reader invites readers to consider how the COVID-19 pandemic has radically altered every facet of social life. From education and communication to structures of government, health systems, social and recreational services, the justice system, and the global economy, educators are forced to consider new ways of teaching and learning in the midst of survival. Drawing on the public writing of scholars, journalists, health professionals, public intellectuals, and activists, the essays in this collection explore the transformations and consequences of pandemics, along with evidence-based responses, critical analysis, and sociohistorical framing, all necessary tools for situating the disparate impacts and contributing to public debates. In nine sections, the book addresses grammars of negation, the pandemic of racism, investments in coronavirus capitalism, the politics of exposure and protection, the politics of space, ecologies of justice, crises in leadership, narratives of resilience, and tools and strategies for teaching about the pandemic.
The Pandemic Reader offers critical perspectives on the sweeping injustices intensified by COVID-19 and the resurgence of racialized state violence. It offers context, data, viewpoints and solutions to collectively teach, learn, and thrive. It takes up abolitionist teaching methodologies—focusing not only on the many ways the pandemic has exacerbated injustice, but also on how individuals and communities are healing, expressing vulnerability, and building community—to amplify intersectional racial justice strategies across learning spaces. This collection is a pedagogical intervention to locate how individuals and communities propel us forward through the multiple pandemics of 2020.
Mako Fitts Ward is Assistant Professor and Faculty Head of African and African American Studies in the School of Social Transformation at Arizona State University. Her work explores hip hop cultural production and its impacts on social movements. She has published in a range of academic journals, edited volumes, and news blogs.
Michelle McGibbney Vlahoulis is a Senior Lecturer and faculty head of Women and Gender Studies at Arizona State University. Her research and teaching interests include online teaching and pedagogy, and gender and popular culture through a feminist lens. She is a contributing editor for Ms. Magazine's Ms. In the Classroom and serves on the Ms. Committee of Scholars.
Jennifer A. Sandlin is a Professor in the School of Social Transformation at Arizona State University. Her research focuses on the intersections of education, learning, and consumption, and on understanding and theorizing public pedagogy. She currently seeks to understand public pedagogies in the context of the pandemic, including how conspiracy pedagogies operate.
Christine L. Holman, Senior Lecturer in Justice and Social Inquiry (JSI), teaches diverse courses both in-person/online throughout ASU’s School of Social Transformation. She also designed/facilitated the School’s Graduate Teaching Development Program, and serves as the faculty advisor for ASU's Amnesty International student group as well as JSI’s Barrett Honors students.
