An Ibero-American Perspective on Narratives of Pandemics: (Ecocritical Theory and Practice)

An Ibero-American Perspective on Narratives of Pandemics is a critique of the realities of the pandemic in the Ibero-American world and its intertwined relationship with the environment. Through a critical gaze into the history of the region as it has evolved through periods of socio-environmental and cultural conflicts, the book chronicles multiple experiences of how people managed to negotiate multiple crises on a daily basis by often clinging to their age old cultural and healing practices, as well as the humanistic representation of such experiences in various fictional and nonfictional writings. The contributors expose the biopolitics around COVID-19 and its effects particularly on marginalised populations and the environment in an effort to consider the complexity of the pandemic in its multiple dimensions. They evaluate it through climatic, socioeconomic, political, scientific, and cultural lenses that they argue shaped the realities of the pandemic. They also take a close look at the use and effects of language in virtual spaces, implying it has the ability to construct/mis-construct reality in this postmodern world, arguing there is a need for a new environmental ethic post-pandemic.

Table of Contents:
Preface, by Zélia M. Bora, Animesh Roy, and Ricardo Ballesteros de la Fuente Introduction: Narratives of Pandemics: Literature and Culture—An Iberoamerican Perspective, by Zélia M. Bora, Animesh Roy, and Ricardo Ballesteros de la Fuente Part I Chapter 1. Tuberculosis and Melancholy in the Work of Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer, by Juan Pascual Gay and Mercedes Pascual Zavala Chapter 2. The Turn of the Century and the Spanish Imaginary Facing the Disease: The Case of Ganivet, by Ricardo Ballesteros de la Fuente and Juan R. Coca Chapter 3. The Language of a Sick Nation: Epidemics and Environmental Destruction in the Narratives of Lima Barreto, by Zélia M. Bora Part II Chapter 4. Guatemalan Expressions: Memorials and Private Reflective Spaces during the Internal Conflict and Covid-19 Pandemic, by Martha C. Galván-Mandujano Chapter 5. Between Life and Death: Practices of Healing of the Ecuadorian Siona Nationality as a Political Spirituality, by María Fernanda Solórzano Granada Chapter 6. Now That We Are Back to School…Pandemic, Environment, and Community Links, by Norma Georgina Gutiérrez Serrano Chapter 7. Chronicle of Life during Covid-19 Pandemic in Mexico, by Georgina Vega Fregoso Chapter 8. Afro-Brazilians and Covid-19: Revisiting the Concepts Necropolitics and Genocide, by Siddharth Monteiro Bora and Evely Libanori Chapter 9. Language and Pandemics: Uses and Effects of Whatsapp—Students and Teacher under Isolation, by Juarez Nogueira Lins Chapter 10. The Covid-19 Pandemic and Agency for a New Environmental Ethic, by Maria Geralda de Miranda and Bruno Matos de Farias Chapter 11. Biopolitics and Environmental Governance in Time of the New Coronavirus Pandemic, by Marcus Alexandre Cavalcanti and Katia Eilane Santos Avelar

About the Author :
Zélia M. Bora has a PhD in Portuguese and Brazilian Studies from Brown University and serves as general editor of Revista Interdisciplinar de Literatura e Ecocrítica. Animesh Roy is assistant professor in the Department of English at St. Xavier’s College in Jharkhand, India. Ricardo Ballesteros de la Fuente is professor of Spanish literature at the University of Valladolid in Spain.

Review :
Narratives of Pandemics is a timely volume which provides a valuable lens to understand the role of literature and culture and explore the impact of human actions on the environment by looking at the interrelationship between pandemics, environment and literature in the Ibero-American region. Narratives of Pandemics is a must-read for anyone curious to explore how the experience of pandemics have been represented through Latin-American literature and its culture, one deeply attached to the natural world. This carefully edited collection brings together narratives that question the impact of human actions on the environment and looks at how pandemics are related to environmental destruction. This volume breaks new ground in its timely investigation into the relationships between pandemics, climate change, and environmental devastation in Latin America. Through the lens of narrative, the authors of these essays explore intersections between these phenomena against the backdrop of spiritualities, traditions of healing, and histories of racism, violence and resistance in a diverse range of communities. The role of political agendas, the legacy of colonialism, and the evolution of capitalism are highlighted in pandemics of the past and present, illuminating the vulnerabilities both exposed and amplified in times of crisis from the Conquest to the present day. The publication of Narratives of Pandemics is opportune. The book is released at a time when the world is still reeling from the long night of the Covid-19 traumatic pandemic experience. Through a transdisciplinary approach, the book offers an informative and critical perspective on the scientific, cultural, social, and environmental history of the pandemic. The reader is likely to get a deep insight into the instrumentalization of Covid-19 as a political and strategic tool of mass manipulation. The singularity of this book resides in the fact it targets a very diverse audience, including the academic community, grass-roots organizations, policy makers, and other social actors. In sum, it is a must-read book; it is a solid, rigorous, and serious contribution to the emerging global discourse and conversation on and around the Covid-19 pandemic.