UWP is excited to announce that Laura Hartmann-Villalta, in collaboration with Emily Bloom, has co-edited a feature titled “Precarity, Caregiving, and COVID,” now published by the journal Modernism/modernity as a Print+ feature. This publication, which began as an MLA 2021 roundtable, has been three years in the making and delves into timely and critical discussions.

The articles are both scholarly and deeply moving. Below is an excerpt from Hartmann-Villalta’s co-written introduction, offering a glimpse into each piece. While the first sentence suggests a focus on modernism, most of the articles explore various aspects of academic life, including its challenges and injustices during the pandemic. 

“Contributors to this collection engage with modernism in various ways. Libbie Rifkin discusses abandoning teaching Gertrude Stein’s Tender Buttons during the pandemic only to rediscover Stein’s relevance for pandemic-era students; situating Stein within Disability Studies, Rikin argues that Stein offers a necessary critique of academic ableism in a time when disabled students are disproportionately left behind. In her essay, Beryl Pong looks to Blitz-era British World War II writing as offering a precedent for the chronological disorders of pandemic time. Not all contributors address modernism directly, but several focus on their experience as scholars and teachers. Dania Dwyer discusses why calls by administrators to offer care to students during the pandemic placed a disproportionate burden on Black faculty who were left reeling from the murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor. Also addressing the topic of faculty burnout, Lynn Deboeck outlines a series of proposals for improving the lives of precarious faculty. And finally, Eleanor Russell describes finding solace in the “cool” aesthetics of Ottessa Moshfegh in a time of caretaking and unemployment.”

Bloom, E., & Hartmann-Villalta, L. (2024, July 24). Precarity, caregiving, and covid. Modernism/modernity Print Plus. https://modernismmodernity.org/forums/precarity-caregiving-and-covid