Todd Sandel's Blog from Macau

 The year 2020 is finally and thankfully past. A year ago I started reading news about this mystery virus in China. At first we were told that it was linked to a wet market in Wuhan, and that it did not spread easily. But then, ... the rest is a global story.  I t's also a local story. Here in Macau, after making it through the frightful and locked-down months of February and March, by April things looked much better. And then when it was clear that the virus was  under control, as long as the borders were kept secure, life for the most part resumed its normal rhythms. Apart from the habit of mask-wearing, we could do almost all the things that we used to enjoy--shopping, going out to restaurants, meeting with friends, and even having church services. Then the university made the decision to begin in-class instruction in September. We met without fear of infection, although I found that mask-wearing meant that it was hard for me to recognize the individual identities of m...

First, I mourn the passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She was an amazing woman and changed society in so many ways. When my mother was married in the 1950s, women in the US could not open bank accounts in their own names. Women were treated like children. But RBG, even before she was a justice, fought against this and made life so much better. May she continue to live on in our thoughts and prayers. Second, I wish to draw attention to the actions of the madman, who banned the apps WeChat and Tiktok in the US. This is done to make him look "tough" against China. But the reality is that he is doing the same as China, and justifying a censored internet, not the open platform as it was designed and imagined by Americans and many others decades ago. If you are interested in learning more about the Chinese internet, and WeChat, see the chapter that we published about this. Here is the link Ju, Bei, Sandel, Todd L., & Fitzgerald, Richard (2019). Understanding Chines...

Chris Webber asks, "If not now, when?" I'm back in the "bubble" of quarantine. This is my personal story. But I've also been watching the NBA (through a subscription to NBA global that lets me watch all the games online), and have been following their "bubble." My personal story is important to me, but mundane. The NBA story, which has little impact on me personally, in light of the struggle for justice, is not mundane. My Personal Bubble Story  After having surgery in Hong Kong on my right hip, a procedure called "Birmingham hip resurfacing," I returned to Macau on August 24th, and was assigned a hotel room to observe a second period of 14 days of quarantine. While I would rather be at home, or not have to be in quarantine, it is not all that bad. The Macau government is paying for my hotel room - a one-bedroom suite - and providing three meals a day. I have great high speed internet in my room, two flat screen televisions that I can ho...

While reading on the topic of national identity, I came across a reference to a passage from the American anthropologist, Clifford Geertz. The passage comes from Geertz's well-known book, a collection of his writings, published in 1973,  The Interpretation of Cultures . In Chapter 10, titled, " The Integrative revolution: Primordial sentiments and civil politics in the new states ,"  Geertz reflects on the problems faced by newly emergent nations that seek to form a civil society. That is, in the 1960s and 1970s, as colonial rule came to an end across Africa and Asia, what ties can hold these nations together? Now that the external force of colonial government is lifted, will nations violently split apart, like India and Pakistan at the time of partition? How can people who speak different languages, follow different religions, have different kinship and tribal allegiances, build a nation that with a common, peaceful purpose? In other words, Geertz is asking if the Americ...

Here in Macau we are seeing some kind of light, or at least an opening of what a "normal" life looks like and resembles what we did way back in January. My daughter's international school will resume classes in May , and my wife can start teaching private art classes. Both of them are very happy!  Here at the university, we are not resuming in-person classes, but we can soon have in-person MA and PhD thesis defenses (after returning students are quarantined). Two of my MA students who finished writing their theses are trying to arrange their defenses. And some of the students - namely last semester, graduating undergraduate students - are back to take exams and attend their graduation ceremony. This past week it was almost a shock to see students walking on a campus that has been mostly empty for more than two months. These are all great signs that we have turned a corner here in Macau, a place that has not had even one new case of Covid-19 in more than two weeks .  ...

Back to normal? Apart from watching the increasing number of deaths and confirmed cases, when we can back to "normal" seems to be the biggest question on everyone's mind. How much longer until I can get back to the life that I had on January 24th, the last day that I picked up my daughter from school, and I didn't have to wear a face mask when out in a crowded area? Will a "normal" life resume on May 1? That looks highly unlikely. Will it be on June 25th, the day of our scheduled flight from Macau to the US? The odds for that happening are decreasing. Will it be on August 19, the first scheduled day of classes at the University of Macau? Even that day seems too soon. The consensus emerging from experts in public health, and something that I said in January when I saw how rapidly covid-19 was spreading in China, is that "normal" cannot resume until a vaccine is developed and widely available. And even then, everyone will still have to be careful ...