The Pandemic: Perspectives on Asia - Association for Asian Studies

With thanks to the Henry Luce Foundation for its generous support, we are pleased to make this important and timely Asia Shorts collaborative volume available as open access.

The Pandemic: Perspectives on Asia, edited by Vinayak Chaturvedi, is a collaborative work between Asia Shorts and the Journal of Asian Studies. It is a companion volume to Teaching About Asia in a Time of Pandemic, edited by David Kenley (a collaborative work between Asia Shorts and the AAS pedagogical journal Education about Asia).

We are pleased to be able to present this landmark publication in open access format in order to increase its visibility and accessibility. The Pandemic: Perspectives on Asia is also available in print and e-book formats. Please help to support the work of AAS publications by ordering print or e-book copies here.

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.

POTENTIAL AUTHORS: If you are interested in writing for Asia Shorts, please see the Call for Proposals.

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION: A Pandemic Without History — Vinayak Chaturvedi

1: Pandemic India: Coronavirus and the Uses of History — David Arnold

2: Viral Reflections: Placing China in Global Health Histories — Mary Augusta Brazelton

3: The Media Spectacle of a Techno-City: COVID-19 and the South Korean Experience of the State of Emergency — Jaeho Kang

4: Masks, Science, and Being Foreign: Japan during the Initial Phase of COVID-19 — Alexis Dudden

5: Olympic Recoveries — Kate McDonald

6: The Goddess and the Virus — Ravinder Kaur and Sumathi Ramaswamy

7: “Responding to an epidemic requires a compassionate State”: How has the Indian State been doing in the time of COVID-19? — John Harriss

8: Inequality, Technocracy, and National Healthcare: Taiwan and COVID-19 — Catherine Liu

9: Racing the Pandemic: Anti-Asian Racism amid COVID-19 — Christine R. Yano