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Alternative title: The Great Dis-Equalizer : The Covid-19 Crisis Special Issue
Issue Details: First known date: 2020... vol. 17 no. 1-2 2020 of Portal est. 2004- Portal
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'The COVID-19 crisis—as much economic and political as biological and affective—is a shared global event that made present the fragility of the world we live in. The crisis was quickly heralded as the onset of a new normal, as media and political elites rushed to reassure us that the pandemic was the ‘great equalizer’ and that we all had to come together in solidarity to defeat the spread of the virus. The tendency to universalize the lived experience of the crisis and living in lockdown by asking people to adapt to the ‘new normal’ by appealing to their sense of vulnerability and affective bonds, only served to underscore that the pandemic did not, in fact, affect people equally. This special issue of PORTAL presents diverse accounts of living in lockdown or through the pandemic in ways that significantly unsettle the narrative of the COVID-19 crisis as the ‘great equalizer.’ The collection hosts a series of self-reflective essays and cultural works that discuss the authors’ individual experiences of the COVID-19 crisis in diverse contexts, including Australia, South and North America, Asia, Africa and Europe. The collection of first-hand narrative accounts aims to contribute to reframing the pandemic as the ‘great dis-equalizer.’' (Nicholas Manganas and Alice Loda, A Borrowed Life: Introduction to the Great Dis-Equalizer—the COVID-19 Crisis editorial introduction)

Notes

  •  Contents indexed selectively.

Contents

* Contents derived from the 2020 version. Please note that other versions/publications may contain different contents. See the Publication Details.
Poetics in the Time of Pandemic. There Is Always Going to Be a Before and an After, Liliana Edith Correa , Frederick Copperwaite , single work criticism

'This paper reflects on the impact of lockdown in Sydney on artists and creatives. We share our personal story of how we imagined our lives would be before COVID-19 and the changes we observed after entering in pandemic mode. Intertwining images taken with a mobile phone and text, we offer our observations on the evolving new language that appears around us in supermarkets, on walls and on the footpath: signs determining social interactions and affecting behaviour. We also touch on the idea of how writing can bring us home and make us feel closer to our languages and countries of origin. We underline theatre’s importance to tell stories from the time of the pandemic, when governments have been found wanting due to lack of care of the most vulnerable, in particular First Nations peoples. We reflect on the need for reinvention, accepting change, reassessing our human values and making present our links to the natural world. As the pandemic takes us from one stage to the next, we suggest that creativity is the one possible space that offers relief and hope and opens up possibilities to make sense of our new reality while contributing to a collective sense of humanity. (Publication abstract)
How My COVID-19 Disruption Became My Privileged Boom Time, Noah Riseman , single work essay

'I was meant to spend the first half of 2020 on research study leave at the University of Cologne. My partner and I rushed back to Australia in mid-March, disrupting our plans and forcing me into a new working paradigm. The disruption wound up sending me into one of the most productive periods of my career. In this article, I reflect on how my privileges—­both earned and unearned—­have contributed to a boom in my academic work at the same time that it has wreaked havoc on the entire sector. I also reflect on how COVID-19 has exposed and exacerbated inequalities in Australian universities.' (Publication abstract)
Heaven on Earth, C. J. Vallis , single work prose
'‘Heaven on earth’ is a creative non-fiction piece which juxtaposes life under lockdown in Sydney 2020 with my experience of curfew in Kashmir in the 1990s. The COVID-19 crisis is explored from the resonances and dissonances across place and time. In this hybrid personal essay, I reflect on how a sense of space is constructed from wealth and community, and how a white, middle-class status benefits from lockdown, juxtaposed against the ongoing political and social isolation of Kashmir.' (Publication abstract)
Mourning Le Temps Perdu (Proust 1988–1990) : Eating Together in Pestilence, Jean Duruz , single work prose

'This creative piece of non-fiction was written in response to the challenges of everyday life in the early weeks of the pandemic in Australia. I wanted to convey the emotional economy of experiences—the longing, sense of loss, traces of guilt in processes of remembering and storytelling, particularly when these feelings might seem unjustified and self-indulgent.'  (Publication abstract)
Dollar Daze in the Days of the Big CVi"Depression days back in.", Peter Ross , single work poetry
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Link: Access online Sighted: 25/05/2023
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Last amended 25 May 2023 11:50:54
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