COVID-19 and
Humanities
Grant-in-Aid for Transformative Research Areas（ B ）
The pandemic of COVID-19 was a painful reminder that infectious diseases can have an enormous impact on human lives. As everyday social life was disrupted, we learned that our lives had been built on an incredibly fragile balance. At the same time, we know that the activities of various people maintain this balance and that minor changes in our actions can alter it.
In addition, this pandemic has shaken the assumptions on which the humanities have relied. The virus, which has repeatedly mutated and continues to disturb us, forces us to reconsider not only the forms of medicine, politics, urban areas, and care but also the nature of "human beings" in general.
Therefore, we will describe how people worldwide have experienced pandemics of new coronavirus infections to rebuild new assumptions about humanities. Four research projects with cultural anthropologists and historians at the core try to create comprehensive knowledge to envision a truly resilient society.
