Reading Latour: Temporality, Modernity, Gaia and COVID-19

It is so often that we "elites" are reminded that the end of the world is inevitable, calculated, statistically represented in graphs and biologically ticking, and while we gather around a circle discussing collective-panic, state mobilization and pandemics, we recieve an email from university asking us to evacuate at this very moment, but don't we worry! For in only a couple of days we shall adapt and go back to pondering about the world, exhausting our minds with ideas, hypothesizing about a post-pandemic future and its relation to yet the bigger crisis that continues to slowly approach: global warming.

We empty the dishwasher, re-arrange our chairs, collect the bits and pieces of ourselves that remain in our department, and are reminded that while the entire world is being halted, theory continues to prosper. But don't get me wrong, I do not attempt to unravel the secrets of the universe or to search for fleeting moments of hope as both capitalism and the sky begin to reveal themselves. I simply wish to deconstruct Latour's Manifesto, his critique on sociology, nature, and the Gaia, tracing them back to this contemporary Corona crisis. If that sounds like a lot, boy, you could only imagine the processes that went about summarizing these thoughts. So sit back, and let's begin.

Drawing Temporality

Watching Latour's "Why Gaia is not the Globe"  thrice, I clung on his repetition of the word orientation as he explains this positioning of oneself on a Globe that no longer, or has never, existed. He claims:  "we have no visual imagery of what we reside in", what has proven itself to be true as we were given an A4 sheet of paper to draw temporality. Temporality of space, of time, I fell into a loophole of abstractions, what philosophy often tends to do to you, yet held onto Edward Said's Orient as Latour continued to echo the word orientation throughout the video. If space were indeed ideological, then do the East and the West occupy the same space and time? A probable answer would be no because often time is assessed by progress, the modern, enlightened human vs. the backwards other. But hold onto this thought, because while progressiveness might have its positive connotations, does Latour in his "Compositionist Manifesto" suggest otherwise? 

Were we ever modern? 

I struggle to understand Latour's various associations of modernity, as he reminds us that "we have never been modern" while simultaneously insisting that we are still post-modern, perhaps here referring to our inability to truly liberate ourselves from the prefixes that we attach ourselves to. Much like art and its various eras that have sought to escape from commodification yet still finds a way to act as a commodity, Latour criticizes the modern human that continues to build his future through the lens of the past. This is what Latour subtly describes as a "modernist clash with nature", imagining a scenario in which the modernist human meets Gaia, what happens then? and what is this Gaia he continues to mention?  

In his introduction, Latour uses James Cameron's Avatar as a primary example, drawing contrasts between the fictional Navis and the not-so-fictional American troops who seek to exploit land and destroy the tree of life. Much like today's indigenous struggle against imperialism, the modernized human hopes to find solutions for the ever-growing challenges of global warming by returning to the teachings of the Gaia, what is known only to the natives. It becomes clear then, that the modern human is unable "to govern the world now that Nature as an organizing concept is gone." (pg. 479) 

How could this long-lost "connection" between the modernized human and nature be retrieved, now that COVID-19 has appeared? 

Revenge of Gaia and Zoonosis 

James Lovelock's book is very omnipresent in both Latour's text and video, as Latour mentions the H1N1 influenza virus, he states that "Facts have become issues. And the more important the issue, the less certain we are now publicly as to how to handle it." (pg. 485) This holds very true as we witness the global reaction to the Coronavirus pandemic, the late actions from the governments, and the spreading panic amongst people as they stock up on food and toilet paper. Why does a health crisis that affects only a portion of people globally, suddenly becomes more threatening than a climate crisis that will result in the extinction of humanity? This could be argued by the relatively sudden effects of the virus, media coverage, and the overall graspability of the data being presented. I have mentioned above those "fleeting moments of hope" that have compelled us to share videos of wildlife re-emerging on the streets and the sky clearing up. Yes, people are no longer traveling, consuming, poisoning the earth with emissions, some are perceiving the whole thing as a type of mother nature comeback, a revenge of the Gaia, given the fact that like a lot of diseases before it, COVID-19 is a result of human "intervention" with wildlife.

"If in the health crisis, it is the brave people who must relearn to wash their hands and cough into their elbows as they did in primary school, in the case of the ecological mutation, it is the state that finds itself in a learning situation." 

Is this pandemic then a preparatory opportunity for governments to regulate global warming?

The sense of belonging has entered a crisis 

So states Latour in his text "Reassembling the Social", and for this argument's sake, he has once again presented us with the example of an individual quarantined because of the SARS virus, no longer able to associate with other individuals as he finds himself in a completely different realm of reality. At times of pandemic, does this example hold true for people who refuse to socially distance themselves? And are we now witnessing a "collective-quarantine" experience? From singing on balconies to shopping for the elderly, how could these moments of solidarity teach us to return to this Gaia? 

Final Thoughts 

I'm afraid I'm running out of energy, yet never out of words. I conclude this article by stating that Latour's manifesto urges us to slow down, to re-think progress, especially in times of this "inevitable charge forward." With the reshaping of our life structures and the slowing down of time, temporality becomes subjective, constructed, controlled by external powers that are deeply rooted within the failures of modernity. "We should start thinking differently about the relationship between society and the ecosystem."  

The post-modern human will only be able to go forward by taking a step back.

References 

An Attempt at a "Compositionist Manifesto" - Bruno Latour
 http://www.bruno-latour.fr/sites/default/files/120-NLH-finalpdf.pdf

Bruno Latour: Why Gaia is not the Globe https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AGg-oHzPsM&t=7s

Reassembling the Social: An Introduction to Actor-Network-Theory - Bruno Latour

Is This a Dress Rehearsal? - Bruno Latour
https://critinq.wordpress.com/2020/03/26/is-this-a-dress-rehearsal/


The Rise and Fall of Biopolitics: A Response to Bruno Latour - Joshua Clover
https://critinq.wordpress.com/2020/03/29/the-rise-and-fall-of-biopolitics-a-response-to-bruno-latour/

We created this beast: The political ecology of COVID-19 - Bram Ieven, Jan Overwijk
https://www.eurozine.com/we-created-this-beast/