Between Georgia and Ohio: Constructing the Covid-19 Disaster in the United States

As the Covid-19 pandemic continues to unfold around the world, governments engage in diverse decision-making processes that shape everyday living patterns, rituals and livelihoods. This article compares and examines state-level governmental influences on the social construction of the Covid-19 disaster in the United States, specifically analyzing the states of Ohio and Georgia. The authors interrogate how governing bodies and officials in these states differentially construct the crisis and reshape social norms during periods of liminality.     

The ultimate return: Dissent,apostolic succession,and the renewed ministry of roman catholic women priests

ABSTRACT

Significant numbers of practising Roman Catholics dissent from the Church’s orthodox teachings, especially those relating to sex, gender and contraception. Many such dissenters even occupy positions of ecclesiastical authority themselves. This raises interesting questions about how dissent manifests differently in various Christian traditions; how disagreement about fundamental principles only become legible if expressed in particular ways. This paper draws on research on Roman Catholic Woman priests whose claim to sacerdotal legitimacy rests on their having been ordained in apostolic succession by bishops within the Roman Catholic Church. It asks how do women priests negotiate both difference and repetition at the very same time. The ethnography prompts deeper reflection on Christianity’s long history of dissent which I argue has been written from a predominantly male and Protestant perspective. One in which dissent that leads to institutional differentiation is prioritized over dissent borne quietly that seeks to contain itself.