Negotiating the Pandemic Cultural, National, and Individual Constructions of COVID-19

This book centers on negotiations around cultural, governmental, and individual constructions of COVID-19. It considers how the coronavirus pandemic has been negotiated in different cultures and countries, with the final part of the volume focusing on South Asia and Pakistan in particular. The chapters include auto-ethnographic accounts and ethnographic explorations that reflect upon experiences of living with the pandemic andits implications for all areas of life. The book explicates people’s dealings with COVID-19 at various levels, situates the spread of rumors, conspiracy theories, and new social rituals within micro- and/or macro-contexts, and describes the interplay between the virus and various institutionalized forms of inequalities and structural vulnerabilities. Bringing together a variety of perspectives, the volume relates to the past, describes the Covidian present, and offers futuristic implications. It enlists distinct imaginaries based on current understandings of an extraordinary challenge that holds significant importance for our human future.

Introduction: Constructing and Negotiating Covid-19Inayat Ali and Robbie Davis-Floyd Part I: Auto-Ethnographic Reflections on Negotiating the Coronavirus Pandemic 1. My Great-Grandmother, Malinowski, and my "Self": An Autoethnographic Account of Negotiating Covid-19Inayat Ali2. Negotiating Covid-19 in The Media: Autoethnographic Reflections on Sweden and International Reporting Rachel Irwin 3. Loss and Longing for the Field During Covid 19in Australia, and Finding it Again because "Ngukurr is Everywhere"Kate Senior, Richard Chenhall, and Fran Part II: Conceptualizing and Negotiating the Pandemic Across Professions, Cultures, and Countries 4. "As Soon As People See You Cough, They Say You Have The Disease": Negotiating Covid-Related Stigma and Health-Seeking Behaviors in KenyaViolet Barasa 5. How us Maternity Care Providers Conceptualize Covid-19 and Negotiate Practice Changes: The Tensions Between Organizational Protocols and Childbearers’ NeedsKim Gutschowand Robbie Davis-Floyd 6.Health Literacy and Information Fatigue: Understanding People’s Beliefs and Behaviors as they Negotiate Covid-19 in GermanyMayarí Hengstermann 7. Viral Exposure: Negotiating Risks, Boundaries and Meanings of Protective Practices Against Covid-19 in SwitzerlandNolwenn Bühler, Melody Pralong, Célia Burnand, Cloé Rawlinson, Semira Gonseth Nusslé, Valérie D’acremont, Murielle Bochud, and Patrick Bodenmann8. Practicing Resilience While Negotiating the Pandemic: The Experiencesof People With Rare Diseasesin PolandKatarzyna E. Król and Malgorzata Rajtar 9. Negotiating Covid-19 in Russia on the Eve of the Introduction of Social RestrictionsTatiana O. Novikova, Dmitry G. Pirogov, Tatyana V. Malikova, and Georgiy A. Murza-Der 10. The Quest fora Cure for Covid-19: Controversies and Negotiations Around Biomedical Treatments and Traditional Asian MedicinesDanuta Penkala-Gawecka 11. How do Small-To-Medium Enterprises (Smes) Negotiate the Covid-19 Pandemic in Indonesia? Santirianingrum Soebandhi, Kristiningsih, and Ira Darmawanti Part III: Culturally Constructing And Negotiating Covid-19 In South Asia 12. Sri Lankans’ Negotiations Around Covid-19: Cana Culture Controla Viral Outbreak?Tharaka Ananda andInayat Ali 13. Negotiating Covid-19 in Bhutan: Successfully Aligning Science, Politics, Culture, and Religionina Unique Public Health StrategyMary Grace A. Pelayo, Ian Christopher N. Rocha, Jigme Yoezer 14. Negotiating India During the Covid-19 Crisis: Issues and ChallengesSuman Chakrabarty 15. Contesting Covid-19 In Bangladesh: Government Responses and Local PerceptionsInayat Ali and Sudipta Das Gupta Part IV: Negotiating Covid-19 in Pakistan: Cultural Conceptions and Pandemic Responses 16. Social Constructions of the Concept of Covid-19in Pakistan: An Anthropological InvestigationSara Akram and Rao Nadeem Alam 17. Local Perceptionsof Covid-19 in Pakistan’s Sindh Province: Political Game, Supernatural Test,or Western Conspiracy?Inayat Ali, Salma Saddique, and Shahbaz Ali18. Negotiating Shopping Behaviors After the Outbreak of Covid-19 in PakistanTayyaba Rafique Makhdoom, Sanaullah Jamali, and Maria Tufail Memon 19. How Students Negotiateda University Closure: The Impacts of "Covistress" on Undergraduate Students of The University of Sindh During Online EducationAbdul Razaque Channa and Umbreen Soomro Conclusions ConclusionsInayat Ali and Robbie Davis-Floyd Index

Inayat Ali has recently completed his PhD in the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Vienna, Austria Robbie Davis-Floyd is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Rice University, USA, and specializes in the anthropology of reproduction.