Perceptions of nature in Argentina during and after the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic sparked discussions about the negative effects of anthropic dominance over the environment. This article analyzes the imaginaries and representations of Argentine society in its relationship with nature during and after the pandemic, drawing on sociological theoretical frameworks linked to the perception of time. The hypothesis is that the singular experiences derived from the disease altered these meanings about the environment and generated different subjectivities, some of them opposing, which were conditioned by the situation of social isolation. For the interpretation, we use two mixed-method studies that have already been completed, which examined the collective integration and manifestation of beliefs, fears, perceptions, and hopes in Argentina during 2020 and 2021. Among the results, it stands out that, during the stage with the highest number of infections and deaths, part of the citizenry associated the pandemic with a certain kind of revenge of nature against human beings, from which the response was a desire for future rapprochement. Later, once social isolation ended and infections and deaths decreased, and social practices returned to a new “normality,” the perception of greater socio-environmental synchronicity faded, and new representations emerged that once again strained the relationship.