PandemIcons? The Medical Scientist as Iconic Figure in Times of Crisis

Abstract

In perhaps unparalleled fashion, the ongoing pandemic has showcased the complex entanglements between science and other fields of society, such as politics and the media. This intricate and often conflictive relationship becomes particularly manifest in the controversies surrounding scientific experts, who have been transformed from science communicators into iconic figures since the outbreak of COVID-19. Accordingly, this article examines two of these “pandemIcons,” the American immunologist Anthony Fauci and the German virologist Christian Drosten, which have functioned as sites of ideological struggle. As this article shows, the cultural negotiation of these iconic figures demonstrates not only how the media have been engaging with images of scientists in Western countries during the COVID-19 pandemic but also how repertoires of (often stereotypical and hegemonic) images and rhetorical strategies employed in the formation and transformation of these figures circulate across both media and national borders.