If coronavirus is a game with all the countries as players who were dragged into it involuntarily, China seems to be the unpopular winner of the year (Spross 2021). Looking back at 2020, COVID-19 unleashed a global pandemic that swept…
The Militarisation of the COVID-19 Response in South Africa (#WitnessingCorona)
The imponderabilia of our COVID times As medical anthropologists well versed in the social grammar of infectious disease, the global spread of the coronavirus has pressed us to the edges of history. Writing from the centre, the ground keeps…
Mixed Messages: COVID-19, a Cartoon Heroine, and Violence Against Women in Mexico (#WitnessingCorona)
One of the gendered impacts of COVID-19 is the surge of violence against women and girls (VAWG) in many parts of the world as a result of lockdowns and stay-in-place orders (UN Women 2020). Using Mexico as a case…
In Solidarity with #BlackLivesMatter and Call for Dismantling Structural Racism in Germany: Public Statement Issued by the Working Group Public Anthropology, German Anthropological Association
Drafted on 6 June 2020 Follow us on Twitter @AGPublicAnthro and Facebook In the aftermath of the brutal police killing of George Floyd, nation-wide protests have erupted against police violence and structural anti-Black racism in the United States.…
Government, Church, and the Community of Believers: Managing the Coronavirus in Ethiopia during Easter Time (#WitnessingCorona)
When the coronavirus enters Ethiopia The first time I heard somebody talking about the coronavirus in Ethiopia was in my car, in Addis Ababa, at the beginning of February 2020, as I was giving a lift to some of…
COVID-19 Secrecy in Indonesia: Between Economy and the Government’s Empty Pride (#WitnessingCorona)
Angela Merkel’s remark on 11 March 2020 that up to 70 percent of Germany’s population could contract COVID-19 was brutal. Being highlighted in various Indonesian news outlets, I can imagine how her words baffled their audience. Still, as someone…