Teaching and Debating from an Interdisciplinary, Critical, and Global Perspective
COVID-19 is a pandemic that is global in nature. It is not only a medical phenomenon but has social, political, economic, and cultural dimensions. Its human effects – particularly distributional consequences – are shaped by economic and political drivers. This is a moment when our critical and global perspectives on urgent social challenges has never been more important. Historical analyses of pandemics and society are replete with insights. Multi-country analyses of its spread, national policy responses, its consequences on poverty and inequality must inform the design of short and long term strategies to address the issue and to prevent recurrence. The pandemic is already revealing the asymmetries of power in 21st century capitalism where economic and political power is concentrated in large corporations and large countries leaving households and workers vulnerable. This global problem requires local and global solidarities. While COVID-19 reveals huge holes in our current arrangements for global governance, it is also a time to promote out of the box thinking for strengthening international cooperation and new forms of multilateralism.
Starting immediately and continuing into the fall, SGPIA will be engaging with COVID-19 as a new lens for the study of international affairs through analysis, online events, summer and fall 2020 courses, and community-based reflections. Please check back often for updates.
The New School’s Coronavirus Information Page
SPE COVID-19 Resources (for current Schools of Professional Engagement students, faculty, and staff)
Pandemic Discourses: A Global Contagion Demands Global Perspectives
The blog is a collaboration between the India China Institute and the Julien J. Studley Graduate Programs in International Affairs at The New School. It is co-edited by Sakiko Fukuda-Parr, Manjari Mahajan, and Mark W. Frazier.
- China: Globalization and “Middle Politics” After COVID-19 by Min Ye (October 10th, 2020)
- Where Is the Risk in the COVID Economy? by Andrew Moon and Janet Roitman (September 23rd, 2020)
- Iran: The Double Jeopardy of Sanctions and COVID-19 by Djavad Salehi‐Isfahani (September 19th, 2020)
- COVID-19 and Challenges to Teacher Education in Rural Ghana
by Wunpini Fatimata Mohammed (September 12th, 2020) - The Lesser of Two Evils by Zemdena Abebe (September 6th, 2020)
- Between Public Health Cooperation and Geopolitical Competition
by Suerie Moon (August 29th, 2020) - The Pandemic Warning and the Need to Shine a Light on Slums and Internal Migrants by Achilles Kallergis and Sheela Patel (August 10th, 2020)
- Unmasked in Shenzhen by Mary Ann O’Donnell (August 2nd, 2020)
- Casualties of Preparedness: COVID-19 and the Global Health Security Paradigm by Andrew Lakoff
- Death by Lockdown: Thoughts on Causation and Non-COVID Deaths by Dinesh Mohan
- Conceptual Issues in the Field of Forced Migration Studies: International Norms and the Internal Displacement of Workers Due to COVID-19 by T. Alexander Aleinikoff
- The Virus of Democratically Elected Authoritarianism by Narendar Pani
- Cuba in the COVID-19 Era: Four Questions by Michael Cohen
- Pivoting Global Governance Towards Tackling Chronic Risks by Arunabha Ghosh
- The Use and Abuse of the Phrase “Global Public Good” by James Love
- Messy Does It: The Everyday Politics of Pandemic Response in an Indian City by Mukta Naik
- Behind the Curve: India’s Failing Response to COVID-19 by Ravi Duggal
- Propaganda Wars, in Russia and Elsewhere, Do Not Win a COVID-19 Battle by Nina Khrushcheva
- Will “Pandemic Socialism” become the new normal? by Zhiyuan Cui
- The Pandemic and the Challenges of the Multipolar Order: A View from the South by Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Celso Amorim
- Hostages of Mobility by Biao Xiang
- Can a Virus Accelerate Change in Africa? by Carlos Lopes
- An Introduction by Sakiko Fukuda-Parr, Manjari Mahajan, and Mark W. Frazier
Analysis
- Sakiko Fukuda-Parr, “Human Development is About Freedom,” part of the Rearticulating Human Development by the International Science Council and the UNDP
- Sakiko Fukuda-Parr, “A vaccine will not end the pandemic unless everyone can get it,” UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs EXPERT VOICES
- Sakiko Fukuda-Parr, “Addressing Inequality and Pushing No One Behind in the Response to COVID-19: COVID-19 and Global Inequality,” Development Policy and Multilateralism after COVID-19 (pages 18-23) (May 2020)
- Nina Khruschcheva, “Trump’s coronavirus lies and propaganda suggest America needs its own ‘perestroika’” (May 25, 2020)
- Nina Khruschcheva, Russia in Times of COVID-19 (May 18, 2020)
- Sakiko Fukuda-Parr and the efforts for a “People’s Vaccine” for COVID-19 (May 15, 2020)
- Grace Ren, “COVID-19: Exposing & Exacerbating Global Inequality” (April 28, 2020)
- Nina Khrushcheva, “The Fog of COVID 19 War Propaganda” (April 27, 2020)
- Richard Wolff, “The coronavirus crisis exposes the absurdity of perpetually trying to repair capitalism” (April 24, 2020)
- Peter Hoffman, “Whose WHO?” (April 23, 2020)
- Peter Hoffman, (International Horizons, Ep. 3) “Would the World be Any Better Without the UN?” (April 18, 2020)
- Juan Manuel González, “COVID-19 as an agent of social change: a multi-country analysis” (April 14, 2020)
- Gabriel Crespo, “Taking Care of Children During a Global Pandemic” (April 6, 2020)
- Peter J. Hoffman, “Five Thoughts on COVID-19 and International Affairs” (March 29, 2020)
Student Work
- Alex Somerville Brown, “Hong Kong’s Pro-Democracy Movement and COVID-19” (May 5, 2020)
- Joshua Wallman, “The Covid-19 Coronavirus Pandemic in South Africa” (April 28, 2020)
- Eden Turner, “Disaster Capitalism and COVID-19” (April. 28, 2020)
- Sameer Jamal, “News Coverage and International Media in East Africa” (April 28, 2020)
- Carmen Soto Diaz, Wendy Vazquez & Hanna Torrefranca, “How Puerto Rico, Iran, and Greece are facing COVID-19 through the lens of media, culture and politics” (April 21, 2020)
- Soukie Dia, “Comparing Pandemics: HIV/AIDs vs. COVID-19” (April 21, 2020)
- Evelina Dahlgren, “Are Critics Rightfully Claiming the Swedish COVID-19 Strategy to be of the ‘Russian Roulette’-Style?” (April 21, 2020)
- Michael de Vulpillieres, “Coronavirus: A Survey of French Media Coverage” (April 14, 2020)
- Natalia Molina Ballester, “State Surveillance and Coronavirus Pandemic” (April 14, 2020)
- Claire Harlan, Kristian Keene, & Jonique Lyles, “Indigenous Needs, Responses, and Coverage Amongst COVID-19” (April 7, 2020)
Courses
Summer 2020:
- (NINT 5461) COVID-19: Agent of Social Change: A Multi-country Analysis
- (NINT 5463) Cities Responding to Global Emergencies
Fall 2020:
- (NINT 5465) Global Pandemics in an Unequal World: Learning from COVID-19
- (NINT 5325) Global Health Governance: Histories, Politics, & Knowledge Production
Community Resources
- SGPIA’s Director’s Morning Coffee (Fridays, 10 – 11 am EST)
- SGPIA reading during COVID-19: What are you reading this week?
- Project Syndicate, “Notes from Lockdown” (April 29, 2020)
- Medium, “History, Politics, and Global Connectivity: Recommended Reading, Part 4” (April 28, 2020)
Events
- Equity for Children Webinar: Children and Poverty in the Era of Covid-19: How Remote Learning Exacerbates Inequality in New York City
- Partner Event with Parson School of Design Students: State Suppression and Identity Politics — India, China and the Rise of Contemporary Segregationism
- OLA Webinar: Cities and COVID-19: New Directions for Urban Research and Public Policies (April 29 & 30 @ 10 – 10.30)
- SGPIA Monthly Webinar Series: Global Pandemics in an Unequal World
- Webinar 1, April 28: COVID-19 and Global Inequality; video available on The New School Youtube page
- Webinar 2, May 28: Global Access to Vaccines: The Politics of Negotiations and the Global South; video available on The New School Vimeo page
- From our partners at Health Policy Watch: “Ensuring Universal COVID-19 Vaccine Access Requires Political Will & Scaling Production“
- Webinar 3, June 26, Global Pandemics and Digital Technologies; video available on The New School Vimeo page
- Webinar 4, September 23, Why Local Public Health Systems Play a Critical Role in Controlling the Spread of COVID-19; video available here. Also see this article on the webinar published by Health Policy Watch.
- Equity for Children Webinar: Poor Families and Children Facing the COVID Challenge (April 15, 2020)