Episode 20: Encounters with Viral Objects: Tracing the Genealogies of the COVID-19 Pandemic

In this episode, LAC member Merve Tabur has a conversation with Dr. Sofia Varino on her “Viral Objects” project which brings together biomedical, ecological, and popular science discourses on the COVID-19 Pandemic. As defined by Dr. Varino, “Viral Objects” are biomedical objects such as masks, vaccines, COVID-19 tests, and Vitamin D supplements that serve a preventative function and invite us to “think ecologically” about the pandemic. Dr. Varino also introduces the “Minor Cosmopolitanisms” framework that informs her scholarship and discusses how issues such as disability rights, environmental justice, and racial justice are central to understanding the different genealogies of the COVID-19 pandemic.