Curriculum Studies in the Age of Covid-19: Stories of the Unbearable

Archiving unbearable stories of Covid-19 is of importance for educationists, philosophers, theologians, psychoanalysts and medical health professionals. The psycho-social and socio-political dimensions of living through, witnessing, and giving testimony to the pandemic of Covid-19 is an ethical responsibility. From the ground up, this author documents stories of Covid-19 both from the perspective of a university professor and from the frontlines as a hospital chaplain. In order to attempt to understand that which is beyond the unthinkable, this author draws upon multiple theoretical frameworks in order to grapple with this tragedy that has unfolded globally for the last several years. It is imperative that this horrific history be documented from the literary, philosophical, and personal perspectives that too often go untold in the scientific and medical literatures. The author inter-weaves autobiography with philosophy, fiction, and theology, history and memory, to articulate what is beyond language and yet still needs to be articulated in a language that points beyond the now. The archive is not only about the past but how future generations will understand the past.

To think through history as it unfolds by engaging in unbearable story-telling is the task at hand in Curriculum Studies in the Age of Covid-19. The heart of education is the archivization of the truth of history and the truth of memory, and the documentation of this pandemic is our ethical duty. How we respond to those who are suffering tells us about who we are and who we might become. This book might be of interest to educationists, curriculum studies scholars, philosophers, theologians, literary scholars, historians, medical anthropologists, bioethicists, health humanities scholars, hospital chaplains as well as palliative care physicians and psychoanalysts.