Literature, Language, Art in/and Higher Education in Times of Covid-19 in the Paniberian Context

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and the spreading of Covid-19 had and still has an extraordinary impact on the world population and has dramatically altered the lives of the planet’s inhabitants. In the current circumstances, from the very beginning, the infection has shown an uncommon virulence and aggressiveness, has quickly diffused, and has become a global health issue. As a result, people had to face restrictions in their daily lives, social interactions, leisure activities and ways of working. As might be expected, the pandemic also had psychological implications and concerns, such as typical acute stress reactions, because it abruptly and unforeseeably generated sudden and widespread uncertainty, undermining the confidence in the personal and social sense of security. The negative psychological consequences of a pandemic, the subsequent quarantine and other actions to counter it are well known, due to their effects on subjective and collective psychological well-being. Nevertheless, this type of repercussion is less evident than others, and this is why psychological wellness is probably the most disregarded issue of the present situation. Indeed, on the psychological side, the current pandemic demands concern and interventions in various spheres of everyday life, such as supporting people in quarantine to cope with isolation, confinement and other limitations. The inevitable long-term psychological disorders and how to prevent them must also be taken into account as well as the psychologically negative consequences of the ensuing economic crisis. The Coronavirus pandemic and the subsequent lockdown have altered our perception of space and time. Whereas previously there was an outdoor space and an indoor space, during quarantine the circumstances changed, and the individual found himself living in a single space, i.e. the place where he spent the confinement. The difference between the concept and perception of a public and external space (professional, leisure, etc.) and a private and internal space (personal, recreational, etc.) has therefore vanished. Similarly, the temporal dimension has also been altered: whereas before there was a public-professional time and a private-free time, then, in the single place in which the individual was isolated, public and private time also coexisted and finally merged and overlapped. Therefore, in the scenario engendered by the pandemic and the lockdown, life ran in the mono-time within the mono-space in which one was confined. In such circumstances, the web represented the window on the world to accomplish any activity and meet any need, whether for work or leisure, public or private. Therefore, Internet, ICT and social networks have become the main communication channel and their use changed. This had two implications: on the one hand, it meant that every activity had to be adapted to the new situation, e.g. smart-working but also remote leisure activities; on the other hand, it revealed a powerful need to express and share the experience we were having. In the academic field, all kinds of activities were moved online. For instance, there has been a move towards distance learning and, as far as possible, individual and group research and dissemination have been conducted through online activities. Whereas, the area of artistic creation has greatly manifested the compelling need to express the overwhelming experience of pandemic and confinement, and this has generated an abundant and very appealing production. This is the basis of the project Covid-19 LiTraPan – Literary Training via ICT for Higher Education Improvement, Behavioral Coaching and Discomfort Management during the Covid-19 Pandemic, designed and implemented since March 2020 by three Universities, namely the University of Turin, the University of Alicante and the University of California Santa Barbara, under the co-direction of three principal investigators: Veronica Orazi (UniTo), Vicent Martines (UA) and Antonio Cortijo Ocaña (UCSB).