OK, so I came back to discuss this. I think nearly everybody sees the problem with it. Let's put it in perspective. https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/coronavirus-vaccine_uk_5ea067f2c5b6b2e5b83ba372

Firstly, arguments that she shouldn't be focusing on identity issues during a pandemic don't really work. It is her job & research interest. Very many people are thinking & writing about the impact of Covid-19 in terms of their own area of expertise. Not a problem in itself.

However, Dr Cousens does provide a useful example of the problems that can arise when one thinks of everything in terms of systems of power and privilege and discourses (ways of talking about things) that sustain them.

At the root of her argument which seems clearly both unreasonable & unethical to most people are those postmodern concepts of power, knowledge & discourses that we keep banging on about. This is the postmodern conception of the world.

In this world, ways of understanding things and thus talking about things are seen as legitimate or illegitimate depending on their relationship to power. "Dominant discourses" refers to ways of talking about things that have the prestige of knowledge or common sense.

That is, in postmodernism & resultant Social Justice scholarship, it is believed certain ideas are considered true because they have been legitimised by powerful forces in society - straight, white, wealthy, men - because they have the power to say what is & isn't knowledge.

The dominant discourse that Cousens is worrying about is one that says that the white west is superior to everyone else - more advanced and more ethical. This discourse has been used to defend things like slavery & colonialism. "We're doing it for their own good."

So, this discourse is real and was widely accepted not too long ago. So, why shouldn't she worry about that? She should. We all should. If the UK finds a vaccine for Covid-19, there will be people who use this & the fact that it started in China to support racist ideas. HOWEVER..

The problem with Social Justice scholars is the same problem as the one they are criticising. Simplistic understandings of society in terms of good & bad rooted in national identity, skin colour that seem to believe we are still in the fifties if not the 19th century.

It doesn't allow for any nuance or complexity or for any progress to have been made. It sees society as a matter of competing simplistic narratives like "west is good/west is bad" and a battle to be fought to ensure that the right one gets legitimised as knowledge.

For Cousens,her side will take a hard blow if Oxford finds a vaccine for Covid-19 & the other side's discourses given an advantage. She says:
"The story will be clear: China, once again, has unleashed a threat to civilisation. But the best brains of the UK have saved the world."

But the reality is not that society is divided into a battle between two narratives. The majority of us regard both the imperialistic ideas about the superiority of white westerners & Social Justice ideas about white westerners being an oppressive plague upon the world as nuts.

So, this doesn't represent the reality and it also makes it much harder to discuss the reality in any nuanced way - because any attempts to do so will be read by Social Justice scholars as supporting imperialistic narratives because this is their great battle between good & evil.

Any attempts to criticise the Chinese government for their communication with the rest of the world will be seen as an imperialist discourse. If Oxford finds a vaccine, any celebration of & pride in this by Brits will be seen as an imperialist discourse. This is not helpful.

Not only is it not helpful, but it reinforces orientalist ideas of an East/West divide. We have not seen the team of scientists at Oxford, but we know that East & South Asian people are overrepresented in sciences generally in the UK. Reality is just more complex than this.

TBF, Cousens does acknowledge this:
"This must not overshadow the key lesson of coronavirus: international cooperation saves lives. The research community knows this. Let’s hope our politicians do too."

I am not sure your essay helped with that, professor.