RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Temporal technologies of epidemics
JF Medical Humanities
JO J Med Humanit
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and Institute of Medical Ethics
SP medhum-2021-012253
DO 10.1136/medhum-2021-012253
A1 Einar Wigen
A1 A Nalan Azak
A1 Ingrid Eskild
A1 Helge Jordeim
A1 Anne Kveim Lie
A1 Akif Ercihan Yerlioglu
A1 Espen Ytreberg
YR 2022
UL http://mh.bmj.com/content/early/2022/07/11/medhum-2021-012253.abstract
AB The COVID-19 pandemic has largely been made sense of as a crisis. However, using crisis as a temporal-analytical category arguably obscures the complexity of the different temporalities at work in the pandemic. In this article, we examine how the pandemic outbreak led to numerous acts of synchronisation and de-synchronisation—between humans and viruses, between social groups and even between historical ages. In order to make sense of the temporal consequences of an epidemic, we introduce the concept of ‘temporal technologies’, understood as a set of procedures that control, regulate, produce and assemble time in relational networks of both human and non-human actors. This article thus attempts to create a framework for understanding the epidemic experience in temporal terms by using ‘temporal technologies’ as an analytical tool.Data sharing not applicable as no datasets generated and/or analysed for this study. There is no data to share.