'The only almost germ-free continent left': Pandemics and purity in cultural perceptions of Antarctica
This paper 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 prese...
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ftunivtasecite:oai:ecite.utas.edu.au:152205 2023-05-15T14:13:28+02:00 'The only almost germ-free continent left': Pandemics and purity in cultural perceptions of Antarctica Leane, E Lavery, C Nash, M 2023 application/pdf http://ecite.utas.edu.au/152205 en eng Springer Cham http://ecite.utas.edu.au/152205/3/152205 - the only almost.pdf Leane, E and Lavery, C and Nash, M, 'The only almost germ-free continent left': Pandemics and purity in cultural perceptions of Antarctica, Environmental Humanities, 15, (1) pp. 109-127. ISSN 2524-5708 (2023) [Refereed Article] http://ecite.utas.edu.au/152205 Language Communication and Culture Literary studies Ecocriticism Refereed Article PeerReviewed 2023 ftunivtasecite 2023-03-13T23:17:23Z This paper 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, we argue 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. We 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 eCite UTAS (University of Tasmania) Antarctic The Antarctic |
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Language Communication and Culture Literary studies Ecocriticism |
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Language Communication and Culture Literary studies Ecocriticism Leane, E Lavery, C Nash, M 'The only almost germ-free continent left': Pandemics and purity in cultural perceptions of Antarctica |
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Language Communication and Culture Literary studies Ecocriticism |
description |
This paper 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, we argue 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. We 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, E Lavery, C Nash, M |
author_facet |
Leane, E Lavery, C Nash, M |
author_sort |
Leane, E |
title |
'The only almost germ-free continent left': Pandemics and purity in cultural perceptions of Antarctica |
title_short |
'The only almost germ-free continent left': Pandemics and purity in cultural perceptions of Antarctica |
title_full |
'The only almost germ-free continent left': Pandemics and purity in cultural perceptions of Antarctica |
title_fullStr |
'The only almost germ-free continent left': Pandemics and purity in cultural perceptions of Antarctica |
title_full_unstemmed |
'The only almost germ-free continent left': Pandemics and purity in cultural perceptions of Antarctica |
title_sort |
'the only almost germ-free continent left': pandemics and purity in cultural perceptions of antarctica |
publisher |
Springer Cham |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
http://ecite.utas.edu.au/152205 |
geographic |
Antarctic The Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic The Antarctic |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica |
op_relation |
http://ecite.utas.edu.au/152205/3/152205 - the only almost.pdf Leane, E and Lavery, C and Nash, M, 'The only almost germ-free continent left': Pandemics and purity in cultural perceptions of Antarctica, Environmental Humanities, 15, (1) pp. 109-127. ISSN 2524-5708 (2023) [Refereed Article] http://ecite.utas.edu.au/152205 |
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1766285938735972352 |