Discourses of Covid-19 and the Political: Introduction to the Special Issue

Abstract

The contributions in this special issue explore the intersection of discourse, crises and the political during the Covid-19 pandemic. By focusing on ‘the political’, the contributors go beyond understandings of ‘politics’ as procedures and processes of decision-making. Instead, they explore the nuanced ways in which pandemic discourses shape struggles over the normalised socio-political order and its legitimate subjects. By adopting diverse theoretical perspectives on the political, ranging from governmentality to poststructuralist theory, and by employing traditions from different disciplines such as political theory, sociology, anthropology, or media-aesthetics, the articles scrutinise pandemic discourses in various regions, including in Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Ghana, Estonia and the Polish-German border region. The contributions highlight how discourses of the Covid-19 pandemic construct, stabilise and re-configure political identities,
subjectivities and normalities within pandemic societies. They show that pandemic discourses allow for a recognition of shared vulnerabilities, while simultaneously perpetuating inequalities and reinforcing established neoliberal subjectivities, such as the ‘responsible subject’. The articles compiled in the special issue offer critical insights into the
complex dynamics of pandemic discourses and put a spotlight on how societies are (re-)imagined during times of crisis.