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Forerunners: Ideas First
Grounded: Perpetual Flight . . . and Then the Pandemic
As commercial flight is changing dramatically and its future remains unclear, a look at how we got here
Perpetual Flight . . . and Then the Pandemic considers the time leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing global plummet in commercial flight. Mobility studies scholar Christopher Schaberg tours the newly opened airport terminal outside of New Orleans (MSY) in late 2019, and goes on to survey the broad cultural landscape of empty airports and grounded planes in the early months of the novel coronavirus’s spread in 2020. The book culminates in a reflection on the future of air what may unfold, and what parts of commercial flight are almost certainly relics of the past. Grounded blends journalistic reportage with cultural theory and philosophical inquiry in order to offer graspable insights as well as a stinging critique of contemporary air travel.
Perpetual Flight . . . and Then the Pandemic considers the time leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing global plummet in commercial flight. Mobility studies scholar Christopher Schaberg tours the newly opened airport terminal outside of New Orleans (MSY) in late 2019, and goes on to survey the broad cultural landscape of empty airports and grounded planes in the early months of the novel coronavirus’s spread in 2020. The book culminates in a reflection on the future of air what may unfold, and what parts of commercial flight are almost certainly relics of the past. Grounded blends journalistic reportage with cultural theory and philosophical inquiry in order to offer graspable insights as well as a stinging critique of contemporary air travel.
92 pages, Paperback
Published October 19, 2020
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January 6, 2025
A quick book and primary source of theory at the pandemic’s onset. Many speculative questions are answered: we have decidedly returned to an age of untrammeled air travel and disinterest around pandemics, and yet… the book raises thought-provoking questions about the purpose of perpetual mobility. What are we collectively trying to avoid in the demand for endlessly global in-person connection?
Displaying 1 of 1 review