{"id":3905,"date":"2024-05-21T10:00:58","date_gmt":"2024-05-21T09:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/?p=3905"},"modified":"2024-05-17T09:29:34","modified_gmt":"2024-05-17T08:29:34","slug":"post-pandemic-futures-december-2025-special-issue-of-bmj-medical-humanities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/2024\/05\/21\/post-pandemic-futures-december-2025-special-issue-of-bmj-medical-humanities\/","title":{"rendered":"Post-Pandemic Futures: December 2025 Special Issue of BMJ Medical Humanities"},"content":{"rendered":"

Guest Editors Loic Bourdeau and Steven Wilson<\/strong><\/p>\n

The immediate response to Covid-19 brought together political actors, health professionals, educators, industry leaders, artists, and activists. Yet the pandemic more generally has thrown into sharp relief the importance of connections<\/em> in making sense of, and reacting to, health crises \u2013 connections between countries and peoples; between epidemiology and the ecosystem; between public health and the economy. These points of intersection encourage us to view global health challenges through a wider lens: While PPE and masks saved lives, they also posed major environmental questions about plastic waste; while the global industrial slowdown initiated by the pandemic cost many jobs, it gave a much-needed break to various natural ecosystems; while face-to-face communication, including in classroom settings, was severely reduced as populations were urged to stay at home, fresh modes of online engagement proliferated, requiring the development of new skills. Over four years since the outbreak, Covid-19 is still impacting our societies, as reflected in the ongoing burden of care shouldered by women, the delayed response to addressing major medical conditions such as cancers, and the increase of hateful speech and violence (e.g., anti-Asian acts or homophobic discourse linking SARS-CoV-2 to HIV). \u201cQuiet Quitting\u201d or \u201cWFH: Working from Home\u201d have become common and preferred<\/em> practices for many who are no longer afraid to set their boundaries; indeed, some individuals have noted how lockdown has saved them from burnout, while others had more time to care for their loved ones.<\/p>\n

In arguing that post-pandemic futures require thoughtful transdisciplinary and intersectional consideration, this special issue will focus on the potential for post-pandemic transformations in social, political, medical and subjective experience that emerge from meeting points of time, space, cultures and disciplines. It seeks to engage with the following questions:<\/p>\n