COVID-19, The Crossing of Borders, New Knowledge Systems and Their Relationship to Higher Education Systems

Abstract

In the face of what can be termed ‘a moment in time’ occurrence, with relevance to the Australian context, the focus of this chapter is one of emergent understanding. It explores the scrambling of definitive terms in the coding of a historicity that has turned one investigational episode into a world phenomenon. The topic, ‘COVID-19, the Crossing of Borders and New Knowledge Systems and their relationship to higher education systems illuminates the positioning of circumstance in how we address the onslaught of a virus referred to as the coronavirus disease 2019, abbreviated as COVID-19. In this chapter, through an evocative ethnographical framework, aligned with a ‘Strands of Knowledge’ approach (Kumar, 2004) the chapter views our sense of Being and interculturality in the exploration of the world undergoing the biggest experiment. The exploration is situated within Bourdieu’s (2016) definition of habitus. This is correlated with conceptualisations of the affective and its influence on how the Pandemic has been addressed. Leading from this, it concentrates through the factors of ‘the crossing of borders’, the teaching and learning of our higher education students. In the process, a proposition is put forward of an enhanced epistemology and ontology leading to how we perceive pedagogy in light of new knowledge systems in higher education.

Citation

Kumar, M. (2021), "COVID-19, The Crossing of Borders, New Knowledge Systems and Their Relationship to Higher Education Systems", Kumar, M. and Welikala, T. (Ed.) Teaching and Learning in Higher Education: The Context of Being, Interculturality and New Knowledge Systems, Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 261-274. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-80043-006-820211020