COVID-19 and Precarious Life

Catalog description

TAUGHT BY GTU. This course is co-taught by Mahjabeen Dhala and Munir Jiwa. The devastating spread of COVID-19 has raised critical questions about our collective being and the precariousness, interconnectedness and unevenness of life. In this course we will reflect on the new ways we are navigating and adapting to life, from new vocabularies and rituals to new bodily, social and spatial practices, global and local. We will challenge the idea of the pandemic as the great equalizer and focus on how COVID-19 has revealed and often intensified racism, global inequalities, inequities and injustices. From food and housing insecurity to lack of access to healthcare and medications, school and education, we will look at how the pandemic has disproportionately affected Black, Brown, Indigenous and other vulnerable communities. What does it mean to reflect upon the precarious life and pandemic politics during the US presidential election and ongoing white supremacy and systemic racism, and how can we draw on the positive role of families, communities, and religions in providing care and hope? Students will have an opportunity to learn with leaders from faith-based and related organizations and will attend a GTU Luce Foundation conference highlighting community organizations working on the frontlines of providing COVID-19 relief (tentatively April 11, 2021). Format: synchronous and asynchronous classes over 9 weeks. Assignements: class presentation and final project or paper.