What COVID-19 is teaching us about culture

 

It’s not unusual for kitchen tables to now be the company’s new boardroom. Bedrooms and home studies worldwide now host multiple computer monitors and a flurry of solo workers. And, as Albert Camus writes in his 1947 novel ‘la peste’, ‘The machinery of global capital has gone quiet, and we find ourselves half-abandoned, each to our own little mindful solaces.’

There is no denying that the silent beast that is COVID-19 has changed the way we will live, now, into the near future and possibly, forever. Globalisation seems to be a distant memory, so does meeting up at a café for a Sunday coffee, and if it wasn’t for Zoom, the faces of your lectures and tutors too would be a mere vague collection of past events. Nevertheless, as we sit accompanied by our solace, waiting for the chiming shrill of a WhatsApp call, something amazing blooms within. Leaders and dictators who control the global machine keep their fingers rested firmly upon the pause button and the outside world seams to be frozen in time. But as such stillness clouds over the globe and uncertainty transcends, it is not all doom and gloom.

If the Coronavirus has taught us anything, it is a lesson of uniqueness and unity. And, although we sit half-abandoned, a mutual flame has been firing up within. It can be said that a person’s true character is revealed in a time of crisis – and insofar the same can be said for a country. During this time of bunkering and bedtime emailing, there has been a unique way in which cultures have peered out of balcony windows and revealed themselves to the world, telling stories of their own unique personalities.

A beautiful, inspiring and quirky phenomena has taken place, that of a culture, but not just any culture – a “Quarantine culture”. AND NO, I’m not talking about a culture that hoards toilet paper like it is the garlic to a coronavirus vampire. I am talking about a culture of resilience. A culture of strange, artistic unity between nation states and ethic traits.

In the Netherlands the sound of café chinks and bicycle cogs have been replaced by the sombre melodies of apartment pianos. In Italy, the sirens of the Carabinieri racing home for lunch have been substituted by the sounds of siesta and roaring ballads as the sun sets over red tiled roofs. Water ways are transparent in the midst of Venice and venison are freely roaming the streets in Nara, Japan.

In France, as ‘non-essential’ businesses close world-wide, it would be a crime to block the doors of their boulangeries, so instead people masking their faces sneak down the streets, with meters between them, yet all with a baguette in one hand and a bag of croissants in the other. And meanwhile In China, cries of joy and appreciation are heard from distant cities as people cheer on the courageous medical staff whom walk the streets below their feet, weary and dazed after yet another never-ending shift. Novice painters who are usually caught up at their 9-5 office jobs are now painting on canvas again. The silencing screams of motor ways now fail to silence the voices of balcony singers. Indian roof tops light up with vivid dances, the sky now absent of the polluted smoggy air, and modern families sit and talk, not about their mundane days, but about their feelings, dreams, thoughts and phenomena.

During a time of crisis, extraordinary things happen. We are witnessing culture in its purest form. The emergence of each and every nation’s little quirks and traits remind us how different, special and unique, yet unified and close we all are. Our culture is what sets us apart. At UNE International, we heavily value culture and it has been one of our driving forces. From the Culture Fest to the Global Connections Program and everything in-between, being apart and experiencing our students unique and very own culture is what motivates us and our events. So, when this crisis ends, and it will end, hopefully we reflect on a time when culture was at the forefront of our minds and hearts. As it is something that we can share, learn from and is something that brings us all closer together.

Author: Harrison Munday

Other links
Wild animals exploring cities during the coronavirus lockdowns
People quarantined in Italy join together in song from balconies during coronavirus lockdown
What coronavirus reveals about the world’s culture 

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