DOI

https://doi.org/10.7275/x6qx-0r31

Technological Utopia, End Times and the SARS-CoV-2 Crisis: A Genealogy of Crisis Ideoscapes and Mediascapes

Authors

Majia Nadesan, Arizona State University WestFollow

Author ORCID Identifier

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2399-5587

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Abstract

SARS-CoV-2 and the disease it produces, Covid-19, have not only produced a “public health crisis,” but also triggered a “crisis in public confidence,” exacerbating the extant “polarization crisis” seen as dividing the American public. In this charged context, knowledge about SARS-CoV-2 and Covid-19 has become highly politicized, with many counter-narratives circulating regarding the nature and heritage of viral risk and the intentions and effects of official responses. Fraught meanings prevent consensus on the nature of the Covid-19 crisis and the appropriateness of responses even while semantic undecidability is rendered moot as the crisis is legally officiated in “lockdowns” and mask mandates. This project explores the idea of crisis through the lens of history, philosophy, science and medicine to understand the complex genealogy of the term in western culture and the relevance of this genealogy for contemporary crisis deployments, such as the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.

Recommended Citation

Nadesan, Majia (2021) "Technological Utopia, End Times and the SARS-CoV-2 Crisis: A Genealogy of Crisis Ideoscapes and Mediascapes," communication +1: Vol. 8: Iss. 1, Article 8.
Available at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/cpo/vol8/iss1/8
DOI: https://doi.org/10.7275/x6qx-0r31