[-empyre-] Contagion

[Cengiz Salman]

Melinda, I just want to echo what Junting has written and thank you for your story. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to unfold, insecurity seems to be generalized to the extent that many of us are concerned about our own health, the health of our families, and the broader impact of the virus on local and global economies. I really appreciate the way you reflected on your own treatment for HCV and the moral imperative that seems to have defined the cultural landscape of this time in your life. Unfortunately, the spike in xenophobic discrimination and violence that has coincided with this pandemic seems only to place our current struggle in continuity with your writing on the eroticization of Ebola and the homophobia surrounding HIV through the Carrier network (which I am very interested to start looking into after I write this post). 

I think this moment is one in which we can possibly reflect on what is necessary to our increasingly networked social life, what exactly is surplus or redundant (forms of “non-essential” work, commodities, and -- as you and Junting each mention — carbon), and what it means to hold essential commodities and forms of work in reserve. More importantly, I hope this reflection allows us to reevaluate precisely how our valuation of certain forms of life often come at the expense of others. I am profoundly troubled by the story of your friends and their teenagers in Sri Lanka, who are running out of food and no doubt dealing with intensifying contagious fear. I am also extremely worried about the Uber Eats workers who must unfortunately risk greater exposure to COVID-19 at the expense of those who can afford to hire them through the Uber platform. 

To all on -empyre-, I hope you are doing as well as possible given our current crisis. As a new member of this platform, it seems vital that we use our opportunities to communicate with each other not only to share our stories, research, and growing responses to the pandemic, but also as a place for mutual care and support. 

Cengiz Salman
PhD Candidate
Department of American Culture
University of Michigan
csalman at umich.edu <mailto:csalman at umich.edu>
Pronouns: he/him/his


> On Apr 4, 2020, at 1:27 PM, Junting Huang <jh2358 at cornell.edu> wrote:
> 
> ----------empyre- soft-skinned space----------------------
> Thank you, Melinda, for sharing your story. I am also hopeful of the changes that you talked about in this post. Another pressing issue that surfaced during the pandemic is about the environment. After NASA released their satellite images that show a dramatic decline in air pollution in China (https://www.earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/146362/airborne-nitrogen-dioxide-plummets-over-china), numerous studies and news reports have estimated that China's lockdown strategy may have saved tens of thousands of lives in China alone.
> 
> This short-term economic halt will unlikely have any long-term consequence, not to mention its tremendous impact on the most vulnerable population. However, I agree that many of us still have the reason to believe that the crisis can be more than a huge inconvenience to our lifestyle, but an opportunity to reflect on excessive consumption, environmental impact, and more.
> 
> 
>> ----------empyre- soft-skinned space----------------------
>> Hi -empyre- 
>> 
>> I believe there will be great things to come out of COVID19 enforced change, and am loving #thevirusisus  #wearethevirus etc
>> _______________________________________________
>> empyre forum
>> empyre at lists.artdesign.unsw.edu.au
>> http://empyre.library.cornell.edu
> 
> Junting Huang
> Department of Comparative Literature
> 240 Goldwin Smith Hall
> Cornell University
> Ithaca, NY 14853
> 
> _______________________________________________
> empyre forum
> empyre at lists.artdesign.unsw.edu.au
> http://empyre.library.cornell.edu

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