Abstract：
This paper deals with the ways in which the intellectual and political history of AIDS can assist in the chronological conceptualization of a pandemic such as COVID-19 as it is unfolding. It problematizes the idea of pandemic \"beginnings\" and \"ends\" to show that such definitions are shaped by the disciplinary location and thematic foci of relevant scholars. Central to this analysis is the notion that ethical and political contexts affect research on a pandemic in different ways at national and global levels at various points in its trajectory. The article develops this argument in relation to two main themes: firstly, with reference to the history of AIDS research in South Africa; secondly, with the philosophical concept of bioagency to understand the ways in which viruses and humans co-shape the course of epidemics over time. I first make the case for the development of historically informed, long-term ethnographic studies of COVID-19. Using bioagency as a point of departure to consider viruses as social actors, the essay then critiques the notion of bioinformationalism as catalyzing the widening accessibility of biomedical research. Instead, I discuss the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries as protagonists in the operation of biocapital. I argue that the history of AIDS in South Africa can provide methodological and theoretical insights into how to interpret an unfolding epidemic, outlining an ambitious transdisciplinary research agenda for thinking about the temporality of a pandemic spanning the different, interconnected, scales of life.
摘要：
本文探讨了艾滋病的知识和政治历史如何有助于对COVID-19等大流行进行按时间顺序排列的概念化。它质疑大流行“开始”和“结束”的概念，以表明此类定义是由相关学者的学科位置和主题重点所决定的。这种分析的核心是这样一种观念，即道德和政治背景在国家和全球层面上以不同方式影响对流行病的研究。本文围绕两个主要主题展开了这一论点：首先，参考南非艾滋病研究的历史；其次，用生物机构的哲学概念来理解病毒和人类随着时间的推移共同塑造流行病进程的方式。我首先为历史知情的发展辩护，COVID-19的长期人种学研究。以生物机构为出发点，将病毒视为社会行为者，然后，本文批评了生物信息主义的概念，因为它促进了生物医学研究的可及性。相反，我讨论了生物技术和制药行业作为生物资本运作的主角。我认为，南非艾滋病的历史可以为如何解释正在发展的流行病提供方法论和理论见解，概述了一个雄心勃勃的跨学科研究议程，以思考跨越不同地区的大流行的时间性，互联,生命的尺度。
