Covid-19 is not only a pandemic but its spread and consequences on human lives will be uneven, shaped by social, economic and political contexts of 21st century globalization. The variable experience of the pandemic in different countries has thrown a spotlight on implicit and explicit social contracts, uneven geographies of rights and freedoms, gendered burdens of household care work, divergent conceptions of individual and collective welfare, as well as asymmetries of resources and power within and between countries. It also underlines the consequences of 21st century capitalism, even as national contexts vary in their economic policies, health systems, and infrastructures. This course will use COVID 19 as a lens through which to understand underlying structures, norms, and values in societies around the world, and to understand the nature of global capitalism in the 21st century. The course will be organized as a series of lectures by faculty from across the New School, and by guest speakers. Some specific themes that will be covered in the course include politics of data, digital cultures, borders and mobility of microbes and migrants, economic inequalities and access to health care, gendered consequences of economic crises, and global flows of technologies and scientific knowledge. Open to undergraduate Juniors and Seniors only by permission of the instructor.