COVID-19 Viral Logics, Social Inequality and Hegemonic Mimicry: Deconstructing the Language of Cultural Parasite

Drawing on Michel Serres’ philosophical notion of the parasite, this essay examines human responses to COVID-19 that mimic parasitic behavior and uncovers social inequalities by exploring the cultural hegemony of viral logics perpetuated by the media. How can Serres’ notion of the parasite help us reconfigure structural inequalities experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic? First, the essay examines the viral logic of internalization, which seeks to normalize, if not appropriate, the impact of the pandemic through the rhetoric of togetherness. This particular viral logic induces people to internalize the coronavirus pandemic’s illusion as a crisis shared equally by all. The essay argues that this viral logic of internationalization resonates with the French philosopher’s parasite logic, which, in Serres’s words, “expresses a new epistemology, another theory of equilibrium.” Second, this study examines the viral logic of correlation, which designates certain marginalized cultural groups as infected, and therefore regarded and (mis)treated like the virus itself. This blame-game behavior mimics the parasite’s violation of the host’s chain of order and the creation of a new order that is self-serving. Hence, the parasite becomes, according to Serres, “an interruption, a corruption, a rupture of information.” The essay argues that although mimicry becomes the theatre of cultural inequality that dominates communication for the parasitic operator, both viral logics of parasitic mimicry eventually slip into mockery.

Unjust History and Its New Reproduction—A Reply to My Critics

Demands calling for reparations for historical injustices—injustices whose original victims and perpetrators are now dead—constitute an important component of contemporary struggles for social and transnational justice. Reparations are only one way in which the unjust past is salient in contemporary politics. In my book, Injustice and the Reproduction of History: Structural Inequalities, Gender and Redress, I put forward a framework to conceptualise the normative significance of the unjust past. In this article, I will engage with the insightful comments and try to address the concerns of the contributors to the symposium on my book. I will discuss (i) whether and in what sense my framework incorporates past-regarding duties, (ii) how it is different from causal interpretations of the relationship between past and present injustice, (iii) whether it can carve out a greater place for blame in our thinking about responsibility for (historical) structural injustice, (iv) whether such a responsibility needs to hinge upon an account of solidarity, and (v) how de-temporalising injustice can cast new light on immigration politics. In particular, I will stress and further clarify the importance that the notion of ‘structural debt’, which my book develops to reflect on historical responsibility, can play in thinking about what is owed to an unjust history.

Recovery Capital among Migrants and Ethnic Minorities in Recovery from Problem Substance Use: An Analysis of Lived Experiences

Migrants and ethnic minorities (MEM) are known to be disadvantaged concerning risk factors for problem substance use and resources to initiate and sustain recovery (i.e., recovery capital). Yet, the voices of MEM are largely overlooked in recovery literature. This study explores recovery capital through 34 semi-structured interviews with a diverse sample of MEM in recovery in two ethnically diverse cities in Belgium. A Qualitative Content Analysis using recovery capital theory allowed us to identify various recovery resources on a personal, social, and community level. While physical and human recovery resources play a central role in participants’ narratives, personal recovery capital is closely intertwined with meaningful social networks (i.e., social recovery capital) and recovery-supportive environments that maximize opportunities for building culturally sensitive recovery capital (i.e., community recovery capital). Though MEM-specific elements such as culture, migration background, stigma, and structural inequalities play a significant role in the recovery resources of MEM, the largely “universal” nature of recovery capital became clear. The narratives disclose a distinction between “essential” and “acquired” recovery capital, as well as the duality of some recovery resources. The need for developing recovery-oriented systems of care that are culturally responsive, diminish structural inequalities, and facilitate building recovery capital that is sensitive to the needs of MEM is emphasized.

Female Pleasure and the Gender Politics of “Girliyapa”

In this article, I examine the discursive portrayals of gendered experience and subject positions through Sarjita Jain’s “Girliyapa,” an online entertainment channel (on YouTube) for female-oriented content in India. I demonstrate how the question of female pleasure that the channel repeatedly foregrounds by way of introducing relatively censored topics of discussion (such as girls buying condoms or articulating their orientation toward same-sex love) is inextricably intertwined with a gender politics that never turns a blind eye to the existing conventions, stereotypes, or structural inequalities that precipitate gender-based violence and discrimination throughout the country. The widespread prevalence of marital rape, color prejudice, and workplace sexism which, in turn, does not allow for a straightforward valorization of girl power is thus satirically interrogated by “Girliyapa.”

Barriers to Inclusion: Social Roots and Current Concerns

A working knowledge of the roots of, and barriers to, diversity, equity, and inclusion within organizations is essential to creating a more inclusive community, both in and beyond the academy. Structural inequalities arise and are reproduced at multiple levels simultaneously, each reinforcing the other: socially through interaction, culturally through ideas, values, and representations, and institutionally through formal rules and procedures as well as informally through taken-for-granted norms and practices. This chapter focuses primarily on the socio-cultural and cognitive factors identified by scholars as important barriers to achieving a diverse, inclusive academic community. Identity exclusion, stereotyping, and implicit bias, among other barriers, play a role, and, together with inequitable distribution of opportunities and resources, produce and reproduce racial and gendered inequalities. Identifying barriers to inclusion and understanding how they shape behavior is critical to eliminating them.

Obstetric Violence in Their Own Words: How Women in Mexico and South Africa Expect, Experience, and Respond to Violence

This article, based on ethnographic research in Mexico and South Africa, presents two central arguments about obstetric violence: (a) structural inequalities across diverse global sites are primarily linked to gender and lead to similar patterns of obstetric violence, and (b) ethnography is a powerful method to give voice to women's stories. Connecting these two arguments is a temporal model to understand how women across the world come to expect, experience, and respond to obstetric violence—that is, before, during, and after the encounter. This temporal approach is a core feature of ethnography, which requires long-term immersion and attention to context.

Structural inequalities in the pathway to COVID-19 immunity

Disease outbreaks often highlight existing inequalities and injustices within society. The COVID 19 pandemic has underscored long-existing health inequalities, both within countries and between the Global North and South. These disparities have been observed throughout the pandemic, from disparities in the severity and impact of the initial waves of cases to disparities in who was most protected during the roll-out of vaccination. As the Delta variant surges in many countries, structural inequalities shape the trajectory of the pandemic and exacerbate existing health disparities. In the age of vaccination, the double burden of disparities in both exposure to infection and vaccination coverage intersect to determine the current and future patterns of infection, immunity, and mortality. It is important to consider the ways in which these disparities, with overlapping but distinct drivers, interact to determine population-level immunity and the burden of COVID 19 in different communities. Individuals or communities can experience different pathways to immunity, whether through infection, vaccination, or both. Using San Francisco as a case study, we show how a seroepidemiological approach can illuminate disparities in the pathway to immunity.