The Semiotics of the Covid-19 Pandemic

Studying the discursive dimension of the COVID-19 pandemic from a semiotic perspective, this book uses semiotic theory to analyse the meaning-making mechanisms and dynamics that occurred during, and revolved around, the pandemic.

Demonstrating the utility of semiotic theory to make sense of discursive phenomena like those triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, it explores in detail:

- the blame-attribution discourses that emerged at the beginning of the pandemic
- how the coronavirus was brought to life in plastic and visual manifestations as a monster that poses a threat to humans
- how the collective actor ’the healthcare workers’ was constructed in discourse and axiologised in positive terms around the globe
- the semiotics of the body during the pandemic, with a focus on the face, facemasks, social distancing and the uses of the body in online videoconferences
- and the idea of a ’new’ normality following the pandemic.

Examining in turn different dimensions of the COVID-19 pandemic, the book highlights the importance of its discursive and semiotic nature. To do so, it features examples from Europe, Latin America and the United States, including a wide range of images, texts, practices and objects.

Sebastián Moreno Barreneche is Associate Lecturer at the Faculty of Management and Social Sciences of Universidad ORT Uruguay, Uruguay, and an active researcher of Uruguay’s National Research System (SNI).