Negotiating the Pandemic

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 and its 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.

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.

Introduction, 1. My Great-Grandmother, Malinowski, and my "Self", 2. Negotiating Covid-19 in The Media, 3. Loss and Longing for the Field During Covid-19 in Australia, and Finding it Again because "Ngukurr is Everywhere", 4. Negotiating Covid-Related Stigma and Health-Seeking Behaviors in Kenya, 5. How us Maternity Care Providers Conceptualize Covid-19 and Negotiate Practice Changes, 6. Health Literacy and Information Fatigue, 7. Negotiating Risks, Boundaries and Meanings of Protective Practices Against Covid-19 in Switzerland, 8. Practicing Resilience While Negotiating the Pandemic, 9. Negotiating Covid-19 in Russia on the Eve of the Introduction of Social Restrictions, 10. The Quest for a Cure for Covid-19, 11. How do Small-To-Medium Enterprises (Smes) Negotiate the Covid-19 Pandemic in Indonesia?, 12. Sri Lankans' Negotiations Around Covid-19, 13. Negotiating Covid-19 in Bhutan, 14. Negotiating India During the Covid-19 Crisis: Issues and Challenges, 15. Contesting Covid-19 In Bangladesh, 16. Social Constructions of the Concept of Covid-19 in Pakistan, 17. Local Perceptions of Covid-19 in Pakistan's Sindh Province, 18. Negotiating Shopping Behaviors After the Outbreak of Covid-19 in Pakistan, 19. How Students Negotiated a University Closure, Conclusions