It’s a long time since my last post, reflecting how busy things have been during the Covid-19 lockdown – at home and at work.
My project AboutFace, based at the University of York and funded by a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship, has been going from strength to strength despite not being able to travel. We have developed our partnerships with Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, and with Helsinki Hospital in Finland, and are looking forward to supporting the wellbeing of face transplant recipients through arts and humanities research.
I have also continued to talk to journalists around the world about what an interdisciplinary approach to Covid-19 might tell us about how to handle pandemics. It’s fantastic that vaccines are being rolled out internationally, but unless we understand why people might be averse to vaccines (and face masks) science can only go so far. I discussed these themes in an interview with Molly Worthen for the New York Times.
The ‘new normal’ is a linguistic landscape of lateral flow tests and viral loads, and as the UK emerges from lockdown, it will be interesting to see what has changed forever. Face masks are likely to continue for the foreseeable, and many of us who once embraced friends on greeting might find a little physical distance creeping in.
Physical distance is not the same as emotional distance, however, as I have spoken about in relation to loneliness. As a historian of embodiment I am keen to bring the body back into discussions of mental health, but also to be mindful of the ways embodiment can shift and be influenced by new ways of relating, including virtual reality. I’m going to be thinking about VR a lot over the next few months, not only in relation to loneliness and social interaction, but also face transplants, where technologies of the future promise to alter our relationship to the ourselves as well as others.
For now – stay well and stay connected.