‚The Plague‘ Reading Group is an initiative of critical management and organizational scholars at the University of Leicester. The idea of this reading group was born during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe in spring 2020, in a time of global fear, increasing infection rates and death tolls. However, the current pandemic is anything but a singular event. Throughout history, mankind was hit hard by numerous plagues and epidemic outbreaks. These plagues were accompanied by even more numerous texts dealing with it in quite different forms and style. Scientific discourses intermingle with autobiographical literature, historical accounts and critical analyses, trying to carve out the power-laden and political side of diseases. The reading group wants to consider these discourses and to discuss different problematizations of the epidemic. Prior attempts to deal with and to organize a pandemic (as well as failures to do so) tell us not only something about diseases. They also teach us about societal power, organizational control and individual subjugation and the discursive fabric of nature, culture and its mastery.
For more information about our programme and contact details take a look at the following blog entries: