What is an Event and Are We in One?

Authors

  • Robin Wagner-Pacifici The New School, New York https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5542-2751

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.1971-8853/11615

Keywords:

Event, Pandemic, Exposure, Racism, Politics

Abstract

This article describes the temporal and spatial configurations and limitations of the rupture phase of historical events. It does so through a consideration of the intertwined forms and flows of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic and the social uprising against police violence targeting African-Americans in the United States. The article argues that these ruptures open up a "double exposure", one that makes problematic conventional categories associated with events, like those of past and future and inside and outside, thus challenging our ability to situate ourselves in relation to such events.

References

Oxford English Dictionary (2021). Exposure. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

Sewell, W.H. (2005). Historical Events as Transformations of Structures. In Logics of History: Social Theory and Social Transformation(pp. 225–270). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Sillman, A. (2020). Amy Sillman’s Breakthrough Moment Is Here. The New York Times, 8 October. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/08/arts/design/amy-sillman-art-gladstone-gallery.html

Wagner-Pacifici, R. (2017). What Is an Event?. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

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Published

2021-05-26

How to Cite

Wagner-Pacifici, R. (2021). What is an Event and Are We in One?. Sociologica, 15(1), 11–20. https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.1971-8853/11615

Issue

Section

Special Feature