This roundtable discussion will explore the way in which the current COVID-19 pandemic intersects with broader questions of gender, race, and ecology. In so doing, it aims to highlight how these central areas of research interest in the Department are vital areas of consideration in understanding the emergence, impacts, and ongoing repercussions of this situation. Each invited speaker will offer a five-minute reflection on the topic before opening to a general Q&A and discussion.

Emma Kowal is Professor of Cultural and Medical Anthropology at Deakin University. Her research focuses on questions of Indigeneity, colonialism, and racism, particularly in contexts of health and medicine. Her most recent book is Trapped in the Gap: Doing Good in Indigenous Australia (Berghahn, 2015).

Celia Lowe is Professor of Anthropology and International Studies and Director of the Southeast Asia Center at the University of Washington. She is the author of Wild Profusion: Biodiversity Conservation in an Indonesian Archipelago (Princeton, 2006), and is currently completing work on a monograph on the H5N1 avian influenza outbreak.

Warwick Anderson is the Janet Dora Hine Professor of Politics, Governance and Ethics in the Department of History and leader of the Politics, Governance and Ethics Theme with the Charles Perkins Centre, University of Sydney. He is the author, with Ian R. Mackay, of Intolerant Bodies: A Short History of Autoimmunity (Johns Hopkins, 2014).

Sara Davies (TBC) is Professor in the Centre for Governance and Public Policy at Griffith University. Her research focuses on human rights in the context of disease outbreaks, gender-based and sexual violence in conflict, and forced displacement. Her most recent book is Containing Contagion: The Politics of Disease Outbreaks in Southeast Asia (Johns Hopkins, 2019).

Friday 3 April 2020,
2:30 –4.00pm
Meeting invitation pending

The Department of Gender and Cultural Studies is part of the School of Philosophical and Historical Inquiry (SOPHI).