297B2

SoSe 20: The Politics of Urban Breathing: Encountering COVID-19

Nasima Selim

Information for students

This seminar is offered via online teaching.

Comments

Online classroom: https://fu-berlin.webex.com/meet/nasimaselim

As of 14th April 2020, the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has killed more than one hundred thousand people all over the world, with almost two million confirmed cases (WHO 2020). In response to the global Corona-crisis, the course previously titled as, “The Politics of Urban Breathing” was redesigned with a research-oriented focus on “Encountering COVID-19”. It is common knowledge that difficulty in breathing is a common symptom of COVID-19 and that the pandemic spreads through close contact and from one person to another in the form of respiratory droplets from someone previously infected. Yet, COVID-19, like all pandemics, is not only a respiratory disease but also a biosocial phenomenon. In addition to the biological consequences of human health, the pandemic must be situated in historical and socio-cultural contexts, across local and global settings, taking into account the political and economic ramifications of its effects.

In the first part of the course, students will be introduced to the biosocial pandemic COVID-19 with a medical anthropological perspective through peer-reviewed articles, contemporary blog contributions, and audiovisual media. Students will have the opportunity to engage with guests from the global North and South and discuss the global responses to the pandemic. In the second part, students will conduct field exercise assignments in small groups online and on-site, with adequate social distancing measures, around the neighborhood of their residence or in virtual environments. Group work in class and teamwork during field assignments are required for active participation. For graded participation, students will write essays from which the best contributions will be reviewed, edited, and submitted to the #WitnessingCorona blog series (AG Medizinethnologie 2020) for publication.

Digital format: Weekly online sessions will take place every Wednesday (14-16 hours) on WebEx Meeting and WebEx Training platforms for the first two months. Later the students will meet on WebEx Teams to work on their field exercise assignments in groups, followed by two final online sessions in the presence of the lecturer. The students will attend a total of 10 online sessions with the lecturer and carry on with their assignments during the rest of the 4 sessions.

References
AG Medizinethnologie. 2020. #WitnessingCorona: Call for Blog Contributions.
https://www.medizinethnologie.net/witnessing-corona-call-for-blog-contributions/.
Last access: 14 April 2020.
World Health Organization (WHO). 2020. Coronovirus Disease (COVID-19) Situation Dashboard.
https://who.sprinklr.com/. Last access 14 April 2020. close