Assignment guidelines:

In this assignment you are asked to apply the themes you have learned in the course to an economic aspect of the COVID-19 pandemic. Please proceed in the following way

1.    The COVID-19 pandemic has had many economic impacts and has shed new light on many aspects of our economies, that had previously been fairly unscrutinised in popular discourse. Pick one aspect of the pandemic that will be the focus of your assignment. Pick something that interests you, on which you can find some media reports, and which you can relate to the themes in the course. Here are just some examples, but feel free to pick something entirely different:

·       Some supply chains (construction materials, food, etc) have been disrupted and their vulnerability (including cross-border shipment and trucking, reliance on migrant labour housed in close quarters, and workers incapable of physically distancing in industrial plants etc.) has been highlighted.

·       Some workers in low paid, stigmatized and often racialized jobs (grocery store workers, custodial staff, etc.) were (temporarily) reconsidered as ‘essential workers’, but saw little increase to their pay.

·       Care work (often feminized and racialized) took on a new importance. Daycare workers, long-term care staff, etc. were on the ‘front-lines’ in low paid jobs. The reproductive work of taking care of children, the differently-abled and the elderly was shown to be essential to the economy as daycares and schools etc. shut down.

·       Governments very quickly implemented benefits at a scale and scope not previously seen, the CERB (Canada Emergency Response Benefit) being one example. There is now more public discourse about a guaranteed annual income.

·       Many industries are planning to never return their whole workforces to the office, with significant impacts on urban downtown cores and commercial real estate. At the same time, working from home has impacts on home/life balance, etc. and downloads costs to workers.

·       The environmental impacts of the crisis have been mixed, with an increase in single use plastics and limited reduction in greenhouse gas emissions during the lockdowns. The decline of air travel may benefit the climate long-term and allow for more regional ground transportation networks and less leisure and business travel…or maybe not – a pent up demand for vacationing may come back strongly.

·       Inequality is growing during the pandemic, with many people being laid off and losing work while others, such as Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos raking in record profits.

2.    Do a bit of research into your topic and think about how it relates to the themes of the course. Here you will be using mostly news media, NGO, blogs, or other popular (i.e. non-academic) sources. What are the vulnerabilities, inequalities and injustices that the pandemic has laid bare about your topic?

3.  The second part of this assignment asks you to consider what kinds of policies, regulations, productive practices, etc. might be needed to correct the issues you have identified so that we emerge from the pandemic with a better, more just, normal. For inspiration, you can look at what many different smart people are proposing as part of a “Just Recovery” movement. Google “just recovery” or go to https://justrecoveryforall.ca/ for inspiration. But please also use your own analysis to propose potential solutions to the problems as you have analysed them.

4.    Apply at least four concepts from separate weeks of the course material to analyse and explain your chosen theme.

5.    Find at least 4 additional peer-reviewed articles (not used in class) to further develop your analysis. NOTE: these articles don’t need to deal directly with COVID-19 or pandemics, they just need to help develop your analysis. For example: you are welcome to use an article about the burden of care and reproductive work on women (during non-pandemic times) to advance your arguments about the impacts of COVID-19. Or you can use articles focusing on the labour and living conditions of temporary farm workers to further your analysis on food supply chains during pandemic.

Your assignment should contain the following elements:

·        An introduction that does two things: 1) clearly outlines the pandemic-related object of analysis and 2) clearly states your main argument or thesis (what should be done about this problem in building a new normal).

·        A persuasive body that tells the reader what is to be gained from understanding issues through the course concepts and that mobilizes at least 4 academic sources in addition to course readings.

·        The body should be divided into relevant subheadings and can include a brief background section that gives more detail about your pandemic-related object of analysis. This will be the primary place where you incorporate information (properly referenced) from the sources you used to research your theme in point number 2 above.

·        A conclusion that summarizes your main arguments once again and closes the analysis in a meaningful way.

·        A bibliography that uses a consistent referencing style (APA is preferred).

·        A self-assessment using the attached rubric

Careful:

• You must properly reference from where you draw ALL your information, including from course readings, from popular sites like news media, NGO pages, etc. and from your additional academic sources.
• You should not rely too heavily on direct citations. Only use them if they are significant and you cannot paraphrase the subject matter.  Direct citations should be introduced in the body of the text.  Eg.  According to Smith (1991, 9), who is now well-known for his thesis of uneven development, “nature is thoroughly produced”.
• You should proof-read your work and make sure that it is written clearly and concisely – you may want to visit the writing centre.

The assignment is due December 9 at 2:30 pm and is to be submitted through UR Courses. It is worth 40% of your final mark.  You must fill out a self-assessment using the attached rubric and hand it in with your assignment.  Your assignment should be no more than 2000 words in 12 point font.