Reopening / Recovery
In our varied responses to COVID-19, American (and global) society has undergone unprecedented transformations. What has changed? And, are such changes transitory or permanent? These implicit questions will guide a conversation between our participants as they interrogate the meanings of “recovery” and “reopening”—terms often used to describe the transition from the early stages of the pandemic to some new, not-yet defined stage. What do these terms mean and how are they articulated to communicate social, cultural, and economic power? Is this a moment of opportunities and restructuring or a period of danger and retrenchment?
Transmedia and futurist artist, Stephanie Dinkins; marine biologist, policy expert, and writer, Ayana Elizabeth Johnson; and philanthropic innovator and program officer, Abdiel J. López will each present their views on the meanings of recovery/reopening with an aim towards clarifying this particular cultural moment and reimagining our collective futures.
About the COVID Keywords Conversations:
The COVID-19 pandemic and its associated policies, guidelines, and practices have laid bare fundamental, systemic inequities, tensions, and sites of struggle and power coursing through our cultural and social frameworks. As an extension of Headlands’ Thematic Residencies—our cross-sectorial convening and residency program—the Keywords Conversations take their name from both a “keyword” project that resulted from a Headlands Thematic Residency on climate equity, and from Raymond Williams’ essential work, Keywords, a collection of cultural histories of words as sites of struggle.