Vol. 48 No. 89 (2021): Times of COVID-19 in Latin America: Perspectives from the social sciences

It is with great pleasure that we present the 89th issue of Apuntes, "Times of COVID-19 in Latin America: Perspectives from the social sciences". After a long consideration and given the critical times we are currently experiencing, the editorial team decided to put together a thematic issue dedicated to the analysis of COVID-19, health, and caregiving. We present six articles that employ diverse disciplinary approaches to analyze the current and future challenges posed by the pandemic in various countries of our Latin American region. 

In her introductory essay, Karina Ramacciotti, a historian and researcher at the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET) in Argentina, and the curator of this special issue, discusses the perspectives presented in the various articles. The issue finishes with a review of the second edition of Marcos Cueto’s El Regreso de las Epidemias. Salud y Sociedad en el Perú del Siglo XX (The Return of Epidemics. Health and Society in 20th Century Peru).

From historical studies to analyses of social policies and with the cross-cutting theme of cities before and after the pandemic, these articles demonstrate what Dr. Ramacciotti alludes to in the title of her introduction: “When what seemed far away comes very close. Epidemics and caregiving in the intersection of the past and the present.” What the current situation clearly reveals—which provide the theme for this special issue—are the outstanding debts of our societies, their future challenges, and role that the social sciences can play.