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Pandemic Ponderings : Fellow Reflections beyond Corona
- 2022
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Editorial collection (pop. science, debate, etc.)abstract
- Preface: Two Years of Corona, Three Cohorts of FellowsAs we write this preface, we have been living with Covid-19 for two years. We have experienced it together with three cohorts of Fellows-in-Residence. And all throughout this period, life has continued. Babies have been born, friendships have formed, parents have died, and people all around have been hit by the virus. Realizing that we were experiencing a particular historical moment in a particular place, in the summer of 2021 we invited our Fellows to contribute personal essays to this volume. Departing somewhat from academic conventions, we invited them to share their own experiences and thoughts of the pandemic as it took place. We encouraged them to write in free prose, collecting and putting together a plurality of voices from across the world, and allowing them the space to express themselves. Thus, this collection of essays reflects the thoughts and emotions of our Fellows at this unique contemporary moment.As the virus became known to us in the winter of 2020, most of our Fellows had been in residence since September the previous year. They had fallen into the rhythm on physical proximity and mobility were gradually imposed, they were able to fall back on months of shared activities, proximity, and sociality. The disruption to modes of interaction was sudden and brutal, however. We all had to re-orient ourselves in a world we had hardly been able to anticipate, and for which we all stood unprepared. Despite our awareness that pandemics are likely to hit populations with a relative degree of regularity, it took us by surprise. Our Fellows suddenly participated in online seminars more frequently, not least on the topic of pandemics; comparing across time and space, attempting to understand and situate the Covide-19 virus. One of our Fellows, Fredrik Charpentier Ljungqvist, wrote a book on the coronavirus pandemic from a historical perspective, and an online book launch and discussion was later arranged. To communicate the wide range of research projects taking place within the SCAS community in a novel way, we initiated and launched a podcast series, SCAS Talks. Initially, three podcasts on the pandemic theme were recorded with Fredrik, Ulf Landegren and Sverker Sörlin respectively. This was a time of coming to grips with a new situation, of re-orientation, reflexivity, and perplexity.After a summer of relative release, the next cohort of Fellows for 2020-2021 arrived. They were a courageous group of scholars, having managed to get their fellowships organized in spite of the lurking pandemic. They had overcome travel in the midst of a raging pandemic. They arrived hopeful that the situation would calm down and that they would be able to experience a Fellowship-in-Residence to the full. Alas, after only two months of relative ‘normality’, the virus tightened its grip on our lives again, and strong restrictions were imposed. We went digital for about four months. Going digital in this sense meant running seminars digitally, organizing workshops digitally, and having to cease communal lunches and all other indoor social activities. This was harsh on both our Fellows and the rest of us. Whilst physically present in Uppsala and digitally present on the screen, they were distanced from social interaction ‘in real life’, as it were. Frustration, a sense of loss, loneliness, and perhaps even alienation loomed large. Simultaneously, but not paradoxically, there was a surge of creativity, of hope, and of friendship. Our Fellows tested different ways of being together that creatively overcame some of the hindrances, at least temporarily. They organized themselves into smaller group, ‘house-holds’, that tended to each other and shared meals together; they went for long hikes in the forest, shared information about the nicest hiking routes and mushroom places; hey gathered for small, post-seminar group discussions; and friendship ties were formed. Life went on, only more intensely.When the third cohort arrived, the 2021-2022 group of Fellows, we were able to welcome them with relatively open doors. The semester could start off with on-site activities, albeit with a degree of caution. By this time, we had all gotten used to keeping our distances from each other; maintaining spaces between chairs at seminars and lunches, not inviting external guests onto the premises, and being on the alert for signs of symptoms. Despite all of these measures, we could maintain a degree of proximity. As the virus became milder, the sense of danger and anxiety gradually lessened, and sighs of relief were uttered. A mixture of fatigue from the constant alertness and positivity about the gradual relaxation of restrictions began to be discerned. Bursting with energy and motivation, our Fellows are now coming together to watch soccer, have a drink, read novels, and watch movies together, alongside work on the academic curriculum. There is energy.Yes, the Omicron variant is still at large. As we write this, restrictions have been abandoned here in Sweden, and we are – albeit with some caution – looking forward to opening our doors to the larger academic community as well as to interested members of the public. We look forward to lively seminars and workshops in real life, having lunch guests, enjoying exchanges of views over coffee, indeed to the throng around the coffee machine, to not being on the alert. We are keeping our hopes high. Together with our Fellows, we are not only experimenting with, but also creating the ‘new normal’. It may be that the mast, the test kit, the hybrid seminar format, and the online conference are here to stay. Whatever the future holds, we have learnt to value and foster conversation, the sharing of perspectives, and the notion of simply being Fellows. Christina Garsten and Sandra Maria RekanovicUppsala, 14 February 2022
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