Covid-19, Between Coexistence and Convenience. Managing Meaning and Articulating the Pandemic Landscape

Abstract

The Covid-19 emergency has represented an emblematic case of the articulation of that expanding collective which is society, whose dynamics and modalities took shape following the advent of an actant capable of disrupting systemic equilibria: SARS-CoV-2. This paper offers some semiotic considerations regarding the management of knowledge during the pandemic in Italy, focusing on the relationship between the production of scientific knowledge and the public communication provided by scientific experts. By examining an episode that exemplifies the complex logics governing the articulation of the pandemic landscape, we will consider the epistemic-management uncertainty that characterized the pandemic as an emergent condition arising from the web of relationships among the domains involved in understanding and controlling the health emergency.