Cultivating Normality: Mapping Social Trajectories in Uncertain Times of COVID-19

Department of Sociology, The Bhawanipur Education Society College organised a talk on Cultivating Normality: Mapping Social Trajectories in Uncertain Times of Covid – 19. This talk was given by Dr. Runa Das Chaudhuri, Assistant Professor in Sociology at Bamanpukur Humayun Kabir Mahavidyalaya, WBSU on 27th july,2020. The talk was held on the virtual plane (Google Meet) and attended by 45 participants  with equal enthusiasm on the part of teachers and students alike.

Presenter tried to analyse the fallouts of the covid crisis, specifically in terms of the casualties of this pandemic including the health crisis, the mass displacement and movement of the working poor and the loss of livelihoods for hundreds of millions of people. The presenter argued however that an infodemic of misinformation constituted of life-endangering consequences of supposed cures, misleading claims and conspiracy theories about the outbreak was leading to the pandemic’s most serious casualty- namely, truth. Additionally, Dr. Das Chaudhuri also interpreted the pandemic in terms of social class pointing out the differences between the harrowing stories and images of those who are bearing the brunt of this pandemic versus the insouciant celebration of life under lockdown among the upper classes. Next she focused on one of most frequently used terms of today the new normal, the ideology of social distancing and the ramifications of these, but mostly those which are related practice of shaming people. The talk concluded by outlining what a post-pandemic humanity might turn out to be.

The talk was followed by a question answer round conducted by the moderator, and host of the event, Dr. Aniksha Roy. This was again followed by the vote of thanks given by Dr. Kamalini Mukherjee. The talk ended with keeping the audience thinking about the current health crisis as a threat to human existence and how the existence can be sustained through trials and tribulations.