COVID-19 and ‘crisis as ordinary’: pathological whiteness, popular pessimism, and pre-apocalyptic cultural studies

Smicker, Josh

doi:10.1080/09502386.2021.1898038

Cited by 6 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 13 publications

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“…Existing writing on the place of the face mask in the pandemic, from the cultural studies perspective, has fruitfully revealed the ways in which masks and debates about government directives to wear them have been embedded into right-wing performative politics, including toxic masculinity (Harsin, 2020) and white supremacy (Clarke, 2021; Silva, 2021; Smicker, 2021). Although the face mask has become a new site for culture wars and highly visible forms of ‘toxic mask-ulinity’ (Palmer and Peterson, 2020), the science is clear on the important role that face masks play in preventing or minimising virus spread.…”

Section: Face Masks: Political Flashpoint or Scientific Intervention?mentioning

confidence: 99%

The sci-commodity sensibilities of performative Covid-19 face masking

Iqani

2022

European Journal of Cultural Studies

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This article explores how extravagantly visible mask-wearing relates with consumer culture. Methodologically, three purposively chosen case studies of spectacular or performative mask-wearing are used to show what the face mask can teach us about consumer culture in a pandemic. First, a Daily Mail (UK) article in which an ‘elderly shopper’ is shamed for wearing a sanitary towel as a face mask is used to explore the politics of disposable commodities. Second, the multiplying portraits of people wearing masks archived under Instagram’s #MaskSelfie hashtag allows an examination of how consumer-citizenship is performed. Third, the presence of extremely expensive luxury designer masks, as evidenced by Rich Mnisi’s Swarovski-encrusted offering, is a base for considering how virtue signalling has become a platform for luxury branding. Building on these three examples, the argument is made that waste, selfies and luxury are modalities for a pandemic commodity politics that is layered over and into the scientific citizenship signalled by the wearing of face masks. Together these create what I call a ‘sci-commodity’ sensibility, in which the face mask as a technology has become integrated with the modalities of consumption. This has resonance with ongoing debates about the object, subject and brand in consumer culture.

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