VIRAL RE-WORLDING: CONTAGIOUS COLLABORATORS AND SHARED FUTURES BEYOND COVID-19

Presented in the 8th annual conference of the Association for the study of Literature, Environment and Culture (ASLEC-ANZ) this paper examined the tensions and possibilities made visible by viral intervention in human cultures. With a focus on the radical reconfiguration caused by COVID-19, this paper highlighted the viral refusal of myopic, anthropocentric narratives and the invitation of viral collaboration revealed through a new materialist and post-human mode which celebrate the attributes and alterity of viral bodies as they transgress borders, cross species lines, inhabit multiplicitous scales, shift temporalities, and confuse delineations between life and death.Exploring key themes used in participatory work Emissary 29230 (2020) this presentation asserts that viral disruption offers an ideal opportunity to invite new modes of imaginative thinking with and through the more-than-human forces of viral entities, asking- What do viral bodies have to teach us about the heterogeneous assemblages that comprise a natureculture continuum? How might re-centering the uncanny, multiplicitous nature of a virus as a collaborator contribute to the co-creation of just, inclusive and equitable futures for all beings in a post-pandemic world?

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Image Huei Yin Wong