Language of Covid Symposium

About the Symposium

This conference explores the debates and discussions on the ways the Covid-19 pandemic was lived, dealt with, and mitigated by various cultures and languages.

For two years now, it has been lived as a global phenomenon that drew in not only international institutions such as WHO, the UN, the EU, but also has necessitated the application of both general and local interventions. Likewise, if the intervention is primarily apprehended as a medical or health urgency, the complexity of the crisis has shown that the way continents, nations, localities and cultures have dealt with the pandemic puts the issue of language communication at the center of the situation, including strategies for resolution. It is with this in mind that the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures offers this international platform to showcase the ways the crisis has been dealt with in various cultures mainly through language expressions and other solutions.

The Language of Covid Symposium will consist of addresses, expert panels, artistic screenings, and a performance.

Two addresses, one on April 13 and one on April 14 will be offered respectively by Dr. Kirsten Ostherr, Professor of English at Rice University, and Dr. Emily Vraga, Professor of Health Communication at the University of Minnesota.

The symposium will consist of four panels on Thursday, April 14:

• The Biopolitics of Covid-19: the Language of the “State of Exception”
• Covid-19’s Effect on Education
• The Particularity of National Responses to Covid-19
• Social Media and Covid-19

In addition, a sneak preview of UR Associate Professor of Theatre Chuck Mike’s play Standing Together, Six Feet Apart; a screening of student Megan Maybee’s film A Sense of Place, and a screening of pandemic-inspired Brazilian film The Tsugua Diaries are offered as artistic expressions of the pandemic experience.

Please join us for this broad exploration of the pandemic experience through languages at any or all of the Language of Covid Symposium events.

All events are free-of-charge and offered in-person or remote.

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Symposium Facilitators

Hosted by the Department of Languages, Literatures, & Cultures.

Sponsored by the Cultural Affairs Committee and the School of Arts & Sciences Budget, Priorities, and Resources Committee (BPRC).

Supported by the Departments of Geography & the Environment; History; Latin American, Latino, & Iberian Studies (LALIS); Theatre & Dance; Health Studies; and Global Studies.

Wednesday, April 13, 2022

5:30-6 p.m. | Keynote Speaker &  Q & A

Address: “Translating Human Stories into Machine Learning (and Back): Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic”

Kirsten Ostherr, Gladys Louise Fox Professor of English and Director of the Medical Humanities program at Rice University

Location: The Humanities Commons, Humanities Building

6-6:30 p.m. | Short Film Screening and Q & A

A Sense of Place, by Megan Maybee, WC 22

Location: The Humanities Commons, Humanities Building

6:30-7 p.m. | Reception

Location: The Humanities Commons, Humanities Building

7:30 p.m. | Theatre Preview

Standing Together, Six Feet Apart 
A play co-created and directed by Chuck Mike, Associate Professor of Theatre, University of Richmond

Special preview available to LOC Symposium attendees with Q&A by Chuck Mike after the play. Play will also be open to the public on April 14-17, 2022.

Location: Alice Jepson Theater, Modlin Center for the Arts

Thursday, April 14, 2022 

All of Thursday's events are in the Brown Alley Room, Weinstein Hall

8:30-9 a.m. | Welcome Address

Daniel Palazzolo, Interim Dean of the School of Arts & Sciences, Professor of Political Science and Co-Director, Gary L. McDowell Institute, University of Richmond

9–10:15 a.m. | Panel 1

Biopolitics of Covid-19: The Language of the “State of Exception”

Moderator: Elizabeth Outka, Professor of English, University of Richmond

Panelists:

•  "In Praise of Pessimism" 
  Gabriel Trop, Associate Professor of German, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
  
  
• “Populist Rhetoric as a Communication Strategy for Covid-19 in Duterte’s Philippines.”
  Marlon James Sales, Lecturer and Postdoctoral Fellow in Critical Translation Studies, University of Michigan.
• What “COVID” Fails to Say
  Raquel Baldwinson, Department of English, University of British Columbia
  
  

10:15–10:45 a.m. | Coffee Break

10:30–11:45 a.m. | Panel 2

Covid-19’s Effect on Education

Moderator: Linda Boland, Associate Provost for Faculty and Professor of Biology, University of Richmond

Panelists:

• "The Educational Response to Covid-19 Across Two Countries: a Critical Examination of Initial Digital Pedagogy Adoption."
  Christine Greenhow, Associate Professor in Educational Psychology and Educational Technology at Michigan State University
  
  
• "International Student Mobility: New Directions for Global Academic Exchange."
  Mirka Martel, Head of Research, Evaluation and Learning at Institute of International Education
  
  
• "Faculty Work-Life in a Time of Crisis: Widespread Challenges and Institutional Responses."
  Katalin Szelényi, Associate Professor and Graduate Program Director in the Higher Education Doctoral Program of the Department of Leadership in Education at University of Massachusetts Boston

12–2p.m. | Lunch Break & Film Screening

The Tsugua Diaries 2021, by Miguel Gomes and Maureen Fazendeiro

Moderator: Sonja Bertucci, Assistant Professor of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures and Film Studies, University of Richmond

2–3:15 p.m. | Panel 3

The Particularity of National Responses to Covid-19

Moderator: Gengsong Gao, Associate Professor of Chinese Studies, University of Richmond

Panelists:

• "Global Data on Policy Responses to the Pandemic."
  Anna Petherick, Departmental Lecturer in Public Policy and Director of the Lemann Foundation Programme, University of Oxford
  
  
• "Dramas of Catastrophe: the Chinese and American States’ Cultural Responses to the Covid-19 Crisis."
  Bin Xu, Associate Professor of Sociology, Emory University
  
  
• "National Covid-19 Response in the Democratic Republic of thé Congo."
  Jean-Marie Kayembe, Professor of Medicine, Recteur, Université de Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo

3:30-4:45 p.m.| Panel 4

Social Media and Covid-19

Moderator: Dan Chen, Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Richmond

Panelists: 

• “"It Seems Like You Guys Forgot It’s a Long Walk to Freedom:” Social Media Responses to the Covid-19 Pandemic and Lockdown in South Africa."
  Carolina Piotrowska, Lecturer of English Literature and Linguistics, North-West University, South Africa
  
  
• "Social Media, Covid-19 and Misinformation"
  Wasim Ahmed, Senior Lecturer in Digital Business, University of Stirling, Scotland
  
  
• "The Politics of Fighting Misinformation and Radicalization in the #StopAAPIHate Moment"
  Jonathan Corpus Ong, Associate Professor of Global Digital Media, University of Massachusetts Amherst
  
  

5-6:15 p.m. | Plenary Conversation & Response

Address: "Observational Correction as a Response to Social Media Misinformation."

Emily Vraga, Associate Professor and Don and Carole Larson Professorship in Health Communication, University of Minnesota.

Introduction by Kathryn H. Jacobsen, William E. Cooper Distinguished University Chair, Professor of Health Studies, University of Richmond

6:15-6:30 p.m. | Closing Remarks

Kasongo Kapanga, Chair and Professor of French, Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, University of Richmond