“The Only Almost Germ-Free Continent Left”
Abstract This article examines the role of pandemics and viruses in cultural perceptions of Antarctica over the past century. In the popular imagination, Antarctica has often been framed as a place of purity, refuge, and isolation. In a series of fiction and screen texts from the nineteenth century...
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Duke University Press
2023
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1215/22011919-10216184 https://read.dukeupress.edu/environmental-humanities/article-pdf/15/1/109/1805010/109leane.pdf |
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crdukeunivpr:10.1215/22011919-10216184 2024-06-02T07:58:36+00:00 “The Only Almost Germ-Free Continent Left” Leane, Elizabeth Lavery, Charne Nash, Meredith 2023 http://dx.doi.org/10.1215/22011919-10216184 https://read.dukeupress.edu/environmental-humanities/article-pdf/15/1/109/1805010/109leane.pdf en eng Duke University Press Environmental Humanities volume 15, issue 1, page 109-127 ISSN 2201-1919 2201-1919 journal-article 2023 crdukeunivpr https://doi.org/10.1215/22011919-10216184 2024-05-07T13:16:56Z Abstract This article examines the role of pandemics and viruses in cultural perceptions of Antarctica over the past century. In the popular imagination, Antarctica has often been framed as a place of purity, refuge, and isolation. In a series of fiction and screen texts from the nineteenth century to the present, viruses feature prominently. The texts fall into two categories: narratives in which Antarctica is the sole source of safety in a pandemic-ravaged world and those in which a virus (or another form of contagion) is discovered within the continent itself and needs to be contained. Viruses in these texts are not only literal but also metaphorical, taking the form of any kind of threatening infection, and as such are linked to texts in which Antarctic purity is discursively connected to racial and gendered exclusivity. Based on this comparison, the article argues that ideas of containment and contagion can have political connotations in an Antarctic context, to the extent that they are applied to particular groups of people in order to position them as “alien” to the Antarctic environment. The authors show that the recent media construction of Antarctica during COVID-19 needs to be understood against this disturbing aspect of the Antarctic imaginary, and also that narratives of Antarctic purity are imaginatively linked to both geopolitical exclusions and the melting of Antarctic ice. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Duke University Press Antarctic The Antarctic Environmental Humanities 15 1 109 127 |
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Duke University Press |
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description |
Abstract This article examines the role of pandemics and viruses in cultural perceptions of Antarctica over the past century. In the popular imagination, Antarctica has often been framed as a place of purity, refuge, and isolation. In a series of fiction and screen texts from the nineteenth century to the present, viruses feature prominently. The texts fall into two categories: narratives in which Antarctica is the sole source of safety in a pandemic-ravaged world and those in which a virus (or another form of contagion) is discovered within the continent itself and needs to be contained. Viruses in these texts are not only literal but also metaphorical, taking the form of any kind of threatening infection, and as such are linked to texts in which Antarctic purity is discursively connected to racial and gendered exclusivity. Based on this comparison, the article argues that ideas of containment and contagion can have political connotations in an Antarctic context, to the extent that they are applied to particular groups of people in order to position them as “alien” to the Antarctic environment. The authors show that the recent media construction of Antarctica during COVID-19 needs to be understood against this disturbing aspect of the Antarctic imaginary, and also that narratives of Antarctic purity are imaginatively linked to both geopolitical exclusions and the melting of Antarctic ice. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Leane, Elizabeth Lavery, Charne Nash, Meredith |
spellingShingle |
Leane, Elizabeth Lavery, Charne Nash, Meredith “The Only Almost Germ-Free Continent Left” |
author_facet |
Leane, Elizabeth Lavery, Charne Nash, Meredith |
author_sort |
Leane, Elizabeth |
title |
“The Only Almost Germ-Free Continent Left” |
title_short |
“The Only Almost Germ-Free Continent Left” |
title_full |
“The Only Almost Germ-Free Continent Left” |
title_fullStr |
“The Only Almost Germ-Free Continent Left” |
title_full_unstemmed |
“The Only Almost Germ-Free Continent Left” |
title_sort |
“the only almost germ-free continent left” |
publisher |
Duke University Press |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1215/22011919-10216184 https://read.dukeupress.edu/environmental-humanities/article-pdf/15/1/109/1805010/109leane.pdf |
geographic |
Antarctic The Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic The Antarctic |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica |
op_source |
Environmental Humanities volume 15, issue 1, page 109-127 ISSN 2201-1919 2201-1919 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1215/22011919-10216184 |
container_title |
Environmental Humanities |
container_volume |
15 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
109 |
op_container_end_page |
127 |
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1800741994725638144 |