2020 Presentations (Communicative Events)

Care for the Polis: Speaking of Covid-19, Now and in the Future (6.25.20)

Crosby-Arnold, Margaret; Charon, Rita A. M.

Margaret Crosby-Arnold argues modern poleis are not suffering from dysfunctions of equality and inclusion that can be fixed, but are, in fact, functioning according to exclusive design. She concludes that paradoxically, the crises of 2020 have left us in a place where we can envision, define, and strategically effect a course of transition to New Age Poleis. Rita Charon summarizes the complex ethical training necessary to provide to clinicians and student-clinicians in the time of Covid-19. Topics discussed therein include confidentiality, patient dignity, personal safety, moral distress, and fairness in triage decisions.

Care for the Polis is a conversation that exists in a multi-temporal and virtual space, a space designed to reimagine how medical humanities and public humanities shape, and are shaped by, the city and its diverse publics. In a series of weekly Z-Panels, our invited speakers will discuss the effects of health on the conception of cities and publics—including, in the context of pandemic, the foreclosure of public space and what it means to become an online yet domestic-bound public. Together, we will address emerging concerns such as economic impact and recovery, domesticity and democracy, public care and public reconstruction.