Review Symposium of Claire Decoteau’s Emergency

COVID-19 and the Uneven Valuation of Life from University of Chicago Press

Authors

  • Alexandre White Johns Hopkins University, United States

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5195/jwsr.2026.1432

Abstract

This symposium is based upon comments from a 2025 author meets critics discussion at the Eastern Sociological Society Conference. Between August 2020 and May 2021 Dr. Decoteau worked with four graduate students: Cal Garrett, Fructuso Basaldua, Cindy Brito and Bianca Perez to recruit interviewees from across the city of Chicago at a time when COVID-19 made any sort of qualitative analysis incredibly challenging. Interviewing Chicagoans living under increased public health focus because of COVID-19, those subjectified and hailed as Essential Workers as well as policy makers and health professionals, Emergency captures the struggles of communities living under the weight of legacies of racism, structural neglect and oppression and the limits of addressing systemic harms through the lens of emergency response. 

References

Decoteau, Claire Laurier. 2024. Emergency: COVID-19 and the uneven valuation of Life. University of Chicago Press.

Foucault, Michel. 2003. Society Must Be Defended, Lectures at the Collège de France 1975-76. New York, Picador.

Schmitt, Carl. 2005. Political Theology: Four Chapters on the Concept of Sovereignty. Translated by George Schwab. University of Chicago Press.

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Published

2026-04-04

How to Cite

White, A. (2026). Review Symposium of Claire Decoteau’s Emergency: COVID-19 and the Uneven Valuation of Life from University of Chicago Press. Journal of World-Systems Research, 32(1), 286–301. https://doi.org/10.5195/jwsr.2026.1432

Issue

Vol. 32 No. 1 (2026): Spring 2026

Section

Book Review Essays

License

Copyright (c) 2026 Alexandre White

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