Bookshelf

Stacy M. Floyd-Thomas, editor, Religion, Race, and Covid-19: Confronting White Supremacy in the Pandemic. New York: New York University Press, 2022. $37.72.

Examines how the dynamics emerging from the pandemic affect our most vulnerable populations and shape a new religious landscape. The COVID-19 pandemic upset virtually every facet of society and, in many cases, exposed gross inequality and dysfunction. The particular dynamics emerging from the coronavirus pandemic have been felt most intensely by America’s most vulnerable populations, who are disproportionately people of colour and the working poor, the people whom the Bible refers to as “the least of these.” This book makes the case that the pandemic was not just a medical phenomenon, or an economic or social one, but also a religious one. 

Vinayak Chaturvedi, editor, The Pandemic: Perspectives on Asia. New York: Columbia University Press and Associations for Asian Studies, 2020. Open Access.

The Pandemic: Perspectives on Asia provides analyses of the COVID-19 pandemic in Asia. It covers the first phase of the pandemic that will help future scholars to contextualize the history of the present. It includes interpretations by leading scholars in anthropology, food studies, history, media studies, political science, and visual studies, who examine the political, social, economic, and cultural impact of COVID-19 in China, India, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and beyond. The timely and provocative essays in the volume will be of interest to scholars, teachers, students, and general readers.

J. Michael Ryan and Serena Nanda, Covid-19: Social Inequalities and Human Possibilities New York: Taylor & Francis, 2022. $56.14.

COVID-19: Social Inequalities and Human Possibilities examines the unequal impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on individuals, communities, and countries, a fact seldom acknowledged and often suppressed or invisible. Taking a global approach, this book demonstrates how the impact of the pandemic has differed as a result of social inequalities, such as economic development, social class, race and ethnicity, and access to health care and education.

Lisa Nakamura, Hanah Stiverson, Kyle Lindsey, Racist zoombombing. New York: Routledge, 2021. $71.48 (hardcover). 

Analyzing racist harassment and hate speech on Zoom, this book examines the emergence of the practice that has become known as Zoombombing. While most accounts refer to Zoombombing as simply a new style or practice of online trolling and harassment in the wake of increased videoconferencing since the outbreak of Covid-19, this volume examines this as a specifically racialized and gendered phenomenon with Black people and Black communities being targeted with racialized and gendered harassment.

Arthur W. Blume, Colonialism and the Covid-19 Pandemic: Perspectives from Indigenous Psychology. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2022. $196.50 (hardcover).

This book views responses to the Covid 19 virus through the lens of indigenous thinking which sheds light on some of the failures in dealing with the pandemic. Colonial societies maintain beliefs that hierarchies are part of the natural order, and that certain people are entitled to privileges that others are not. These hierarchies have contributed to racism as well as health, and wealth disparities that have increased vulnerabilities to the virus. Indigenous societies, on the other hand, view individuals as interdependent, and hold an optimistic view that this tragedy can yield important lessons for future improvement. This book examines the legacy of colonial societies in contributing to existing vulnerabilities, and incorporates an indigenous perspective in re-imagining the problem and its solutions.

Nazneed Khan, editor, Covid-19 and Childhood Inequality. New York: Routledge, 2022. $136.00.

The COVID-19 pandemic and the global response to it have disrupted the daily lives of children in innumerable ways. These impacts have unfolded unevenly, as nation, race, class, sexuality, citizenship status, disability, housing stability and other dimensions of power have shaped the ways in which children and youth have experienced the pandemic. COVID-19 and Childhood Inequality brings together a multidisciplinary group of child and youth scholars and practitioners who highlight the mechanisms and practices through which the COVID-19 pandemic has both further marginalized children and exacerbated childhood disparities. 

R. Drew Smith, Stephanie C. Boddie, and Bertis D. English, editors, Racialized Health, Covid-19, and Religious Responses: Black Atlantic Contexts and Perspectives. New York: Routledge, 2022. $155 (hardcover).

Racialized Health, COVID-19, and Religious Responses: Black Atlantic Contexts and Perspectives explores black religious responses to black health concerns amidst persistent race-based health disparities and healthcare inequities. This cutting-edge edited volume provides theoretically and descriptively rich analysis of cases and contexts where race factors strongly in black health outcomes and dynamics, viewing these matters from various disciplinary and national vantage points.

Eric E. Otenyo and Lisa J. Hardy, The Inequality of Covid-19: Immediate Health Communication, Governance, and Response in Four Indigenous Regions. London: Academic Press, 2022. $140 (hardcover).

The Inequality of COVID-19: Immediate Health Communication, Governance and Response in Four Indigenous Regions explores the use of information, communication technologies (ICTs) and longer-term guidelines, directives and general policy initiatives. The cases document implications of the failure of various governments to establish robust policies to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in a sample of advanced and low-income countries. Because the global institutions charged with managing the COVID-19 crisis did not work in harmony, the results have been devastating. 

Stan Cox, The Path to a Livable Future: A new Politics to Fight Climate Change, Racism, and the Next Pandemic. San Francisco: City Lights Books, 2021. $21.10.

In The Path to a Livable Future, Stan Cox makes plain the connections between the multiple crises facing us today, and provides an inspired vision for how to resolve them. With a deeply informed, clear to-do list, Cox shows us how we can work together to address the climate emergency, white supremacy, and our vulnerability to future pandemics all at once. Our future depends on it.

Richard E. Rubenstein and Solon Simmons, editors, Conflict Resolution After the Pandemic: Building Peace, Pursuing Justice. New York: Routledge, 2021. $75.72 (hardcover).

In a series of short essays combining social analysis with informed speculation, the contributors examine the impact of the coronavirus crisis on a wide variety of issues, including nationality, social class, race, gender, ethnicity, and religion. They conclude that the period of the pandemic may well constitute a historic turning point, since the overall impact of the crisis is to destabilize existing social and political systems. Not only does this systemic shakeup produce the possibility of more intense and violent conflicts, but also presents new opportunities for advancing the related causes of social justice and civic peace.