Viral World: Global Relations During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a reassessment of worldviews and relationships, leading to the development of viral worlding. This book explores how worlding processes accelerated with the virus, addressing inequality and forging possibilities for societal transformation. It analyzes progressive movements for democracy, abolition, feminism, environment, and socialism against the forces of capitalism, authoritarianism, racism, and militarism. The book provides critical insights into understanding the world(s) of COVID-19 and collective efforts to build better new ones.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 256 pages
Publication date: 07 June 2024
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

The COVID-19 pandemic has presented a unique opportunity for groups, institutions, and states to reevaluate their worldviews and relationships with the global community. In response, this book offers a timely contribution to cultural knowledge about the pandemic and the viral politics that underpin it. Through a comprehensive analysis of multiple case studies across dozens of countries, the book explores the diverse forms of global consciousness and connectivity that have emerged during this crisis. It introduces the concept of viral worlding, which encompasses viral forms of relationality, becoming, and communication. The book demonstrates how the pandemic has accelerated worlding or world-making processes, leading to the emergence of new emergent forms of global being. These forms have been used to address issues of inequality and to forge possibilities for societal transformation.

In the face of the devastating forces of capitalism, authoritarianism, racism, and militarism, the book examines progressive movements for democracy, abolition, feminism, environmentalism, and socialism. It highlights how these movements have been challenged by the world-shattering impacts of the pandemic, particularly on marginalized communities in the Global South. The book juxtaposes the closing of these communities' life-worlds and social worlds by hegemonic global actors with increased collective demands for freedom, mobility, and justice by vulnerable people.

The breadth and depth of the book make it an invaluable resource for students, scholars, and general readers seeking to understand the world(s) of COVID-19 and collective efforts to build better new ones. It provides critical insights into the complex dynamics that have shaped the pandemic and its aftermath, and offers valuable lessons for navigating the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.

Weight: 416g
Dimension: 156 x 234 x 19 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781032694528