Medical Anthropology at UCL

Patterns of Contamination: From Fukushima to COVID-19

MAXIME POLLERI In the spring of 2016, I was invited to witness the work of citizen scientists in Fukushima. These citizen scientists were mostly farmers attempting to revitalize the sociocultural life of their region, which had been heavily affected by residual radioactivity in the aftermath of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster. At 5:30 on a…

Vectors And Viruses: What Coexisting With Mosquitoes Can Teach Us About Living With Coronavirus

ROSIE SIMS My mask is green with zebras on it, a feeble attempt to liven up the veil of cotton protecting me from others, or others from me. An artefact of a new era. Interaction with other humans reduced to deciphering expressions conveyed by eyes and crinkling foreheads, voices muffled by layers covering mouths. A…

‘Maybe When All This Is Over Jesus Will Come Back’: Crisis, Post-Crisis And Millenarian Time

GARETH BREEN The Pursuit of the Millennium is an influential book by Norman Cohn. In it, Cohn shows quite precisely how in Medieval times millenarian movements periodically rode and arose from within waves of social, political and economic unrest. The book has been influential upon our understandings of why Protestantism took hold in China at…

How Our Behaviour Affects Virus Evolution

DR GUL DENIZ SALALI COVID-19 is caused by the novel coronavirus (Sars-Cov-2), but coronaviruses have been among us for years. Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses, and different strains (genetic variants) choose different species as their hosts. Many people may have first heard about coronaviruses during the 2002-2004 SARS outbreak, when a strain was…

Cowboys and Coronavirus: Protesting Covid-19 in ‘The Land of the Free’

ROSIE MATHERS Over the last couple of weeks protests have broken out across America against lockdown measures imposed to reduce the spread and contraction of Covid-19. Rallies across Northern and Southern states have seen demonstrators take the streets to call for an end to quarantine, an urgent reopening the economy, and the return of over…

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS ‘Co-existing with Covid-19: Moving into the post-pandemic world with the social sciences’

NEW UCL MEDICAL ANTHROPOLOGY BLOG SERIES In the UK, as across much of the world, we find ourselves moving slowly into a new version of reality: post-quarantine, but still very much encapsulated by Covid-19 and the spectre of infectious disease. Whether our respective governments are calling this an ‘exit’ strategy, the lifting of lockdown, or…

God’s Daily Briefings: Religious Leadership in a Global Pandemic

TILAK PAREKH The Voice of God Religious leaders possess immense power and influence. Believers may listen to government ministers or public health officials, but, above all, they place their faith in the religious elite. For many religious people, their quotidian lives are determined almost entirely by their faith. From mundane, banal activities such as what…

Memes, Migrants, And The Epidemiological Imagination

JOSH BABCOCK As COVID-19 escalated to officially pandemic proportions early this year, Coronavirus-prevention advice began circulating via Facebook and WhatsApp in Singapore. Mostly in English and Mandarin, the advice ranged from speculative antiviral uses of onions—“Slice an onion and leave it in the middle of the room overnight so it absorbs all the viruses”—to more…

Pandemic Predictions- The World Post-Covid-19 for Indian Females

DEVASHREE JUVEKAR As the entire world is grappling with the novel coronavirus pandemic, many experts and researchers have predicted a number of social and economic changes that the world would undergo post-pandemic, ranging from an increase in nationalism and decrease in globalization to changes in food choices and a global hunger crisis. I am going…

Mental Health Avenues Amidst A Global Pandemic: Conceptualising The Biosocial Medical Framework Within Urban ‘Green Spaces’

TIFFANY LOERA Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale. This is my morning mantra. As I lay in my bed in the early hours of the morning, I am aware of the limited capacity I have to walk the short distance to my workspace. Like clockwork, the strict schedule I have carefully designed for maximum productivity, relentlessly and…

Sociological Reflections In Times Of Change And Uncertainty: Managing Risk, Trying To Adapt And Being Creative

CATARINA DELAUNAY Covid-19 crisis is not democratic in the sense that it affects everyone equally regardless of age, gender, class, ethnicity or geographic area where one lives, as some try to defend. Containment measures were imposed based on the life style and living conditions of the middle class, without considering those with less capacity and…

Sociological Reflections In Times Of Change And Uncertainty: Surveillance, Control And Punishment

CATARINA DELAUNAY On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a global pandemic on Covid-19. Several countries, across the world, including Portugal, declared a state of emergency, and have been taking several measures, with a strong impact both on people’s daily lives, and in various sectors of the economy and society. Being a…

The ‘Invisible Enemy’: A Critical Look at the Use of Military Metaphors and Anthropomorphisation During The COVID-19 Pandemic

JAMES FOTHERBY In mid-March, before becoming infected with Coronavirus, Boris Johnson declared that his government must act like “any wartime government” while facing a deadly “enemy”. During Johnson’s admission to the Intensive Care Unit in early-April, Michael Gove stated that the Cabinet Office would continue to “marshal all the resources of government in the fight…

Trench Warfare of Mindsets in Switzerland’s Approach to The COVID-19 Pandemic

HÜSLER SAMIRA-SALOMÉ & PYTHON ANNICK MARIA ILDIKO On 26 March 2020, the Federal Council declared an extraordinary situation in accordance with the Epidemic Act and issued a set of measures, including the closure of all the shops, restaurants, bars and other leisure facilities. Businesses at which the recommended distance cannot be maintained (e.g. hairdressing salons)…

COVID-19 Stories: How PhD Students are Experiencing Disruption And Uncertainty During The Pandemic

VAS PAPAGEORGIOU, WILL KENDALL AND LIDIA LUNA PUERTA We are graduate students at an extraordinary time. At the early stage of our careers, we were still learning how to live and work in the world of academia. Now, as the COVID-19 outbreak unfolds across the world, students globally are having to adapt to yet another…

Equine PPID Connectivities and Covid-19: 2020 Journal Reflections

KIM CROWDER March 8th. I book a routine vet visit for my geriatric rescue pony’s annual vaccinations and hormone-monitoring test. March 22nd. In line with pandemic protocols the vet cancels all non-emergency equine visits. March 24th. It’s suddenly warm. The pony looks unwell, overheating in his super-shaggy winter coat. The grass is growing fast, flushed…

“In Beijing They Eat Snakes And Then Pig Out”: Xenophobia, Geopolitics, and the Role of the Italian Far-Right in Covid-19 Constructions of China

FRANCESCO FLORIS Well before the high rate of infections grew and lay citizens became affected by COVID-19 in Italy, fear, news from China, fake news, and the statements of some politicians, were already circulating. These circumstances lead to a growing wave of diffidence towards the Chinese communities in the country, culminating with acts of racial…

Why do we talk about Eurobonds? Or: The Big Division in the Euro Area

INGA AENNE FELDMANN The corona virus health crisis sent many countries of the world in a lock down to protect their elderly and vulnerable from severe illness and death. With the pandemic epicentre reaching Europe in March 2020, also the European Union (EU) Member States (MS) shut down – but while most of them are…

A Lesson In Composure: Learning From Migrants In Times Of Covid-19

CHRISTIAN UNGRUHE The Covid-19 pandemic teaches a number of painful lessons. Many people, persistently deprived from access to adequate health care, housing, education or jobs, pay a devastating price for structural inequalities. For some, think of refugees on the road or holding out in camps, political measures such as lockdowns may even worsen their already…

“Getting Closer” Through Art: Facebook and Turning to Art in The Time of Covid-19

MANUELA PELLEGRINO How to feel close when physically distant? This is, of course, not a new dilemma in itself; indeed, people who live far from their loved ones have long relied on technological solutions: video-calls with multiple participants, for instance, re-establish a ‘visual’ connection, albeit deprived of tactile sensory perception. Social distancing, however, has become…

In The Midst Of COVID 19, The Search For The Missing In Mexico Continues

CAMILA RUIZ SEGOVIA Night had fallen at the coastal state of Veracruz, Mexico, when a group of men kidnapped Luis Guillermo, 29. He was an independent businessman by day and a DJ by night, according to Lucía, his mother. The date was June 28, 2013. Nearly seven years after he went missing, his whereabouts remains…

Experiencing Corona Virus in the Andes

LUCIA STAVIG A mix of huaynos, cumbia, and bird song still greet the sun in the Andean community in which I am riding out the month-long quarantine. At first glance, it might seem that not much has changed for this community in the age of COVID-19. Women in polleras still take their pigs and sheep…

The New Public Care: Seeking Coronavirus Truth through Networked Publics

MAGDALENA GÓRALSKA Before the pandemic begun the usual turn of events was like that: Beata, an accountant from a mid-size town in Poland has a health problem, or her husband has. She is not satisfied with medical advice given by doctors from either private or public healthcare sectors. She picks up her smartphone (she’s 60…

The Logic of ‘Advanced Deployment’ to Tackle COVID-19 in Taiwan

YI-CHENG WU I was planning to return to the UK to complete my PhD study before the coronavirus swept Europe. The Taiwanese government’s travel ban on medical personnel made my situation trickier. As a healthcare worker, it is embarrassing to ask for leave when all my colleagues are being urged to stay for the need…

Towards A Bright Post-Apocalypse

ERIC ORLOWSKI It was Walter Benjamin (1974 [1940]) who observed that we only experience history such as it is, when it stands still. However, he referred more so to the study of history, which was always the study of a mere snapshot of the true events, or indeed to the material ruins of the past:…

Biosocial Medical Anthropology in the Time of Covid-19. New Challenges and Opportunities.

SAHRA GIBBON, LEWIS DALY, AARON PARKHURST, CARRIE RYAN, GUL DENIZ SALALI AND ALEX TASKER As the events of the past few months concerning the coronavirus have unfolded across the globe, those of us who teach on a newly established MSc in Biosocial Medical Anthropology have become acutely aware of the immediate relevance of this unique…

Post-Pandemic Eating: What Will Food Culture Look Like After COVID-19?

KOMAL BHATIA I have six and a half kilos of dried lentils and beans in my pantry. This excludes the kilo of peppery papad, a half-used packet of gram flour, quarter kilo of soy granules, and a dense kilo of vadi (a dehydrated spicy lentil dumpling found in most Sindhi homes) that are awaiting their turn…

Biosocial Medical Anthropology in the Time of Covid-19. New Challenges and Opportunities.

Revisiting Defoe, or: Why History Matters in the Time of Covid-19

CATHERINE TOURANGEAU Why should history matter in times of crisis? The question is worth pondering. Historians and history teachers are not on the front lines, fighting for people’s lives or providing food and medical supplies. Even their valuable knowledge and understanding of the crises of the past can seem useless and impractical. Every epidemic is…

The Past 60-plus Days in China: Covid-19 Perspectives from a Wuhan-native

LI HONGLIN With the arrival of April, the weather in Beijing becomes particularly warm, and people in masks rush to the park enjoying the spring. Meanwhile in my hometown, Wuhan, after two months of extremely tough days this spring stands to be especially precious. The cities around Wuhan have begun to end the isolation, and…

THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL RESPONSES TO COVID-19 PROJECT

Summaries of Responses From: Collecting COVID-19: A crowd-sourced digital ethnography of the COVID-19 Pandemic Question One: How do people find and share information online during a global pandemic? ‘Anthropological Responses to COVID-19’ will comprise six questions, each lasting a fortnight. These are posted on a website created by University College London’s Centre for Digital Anthropology….

Rapid Public Health Enlightenment (RPHE) to Curb the Continued Spread Of COVID-19 in Nigeria

S. AKINMAYỌWA LAWAL & JIMOH AMZAT As of Tuesday, 31st March 2020, the number of confirmed cases of Coronavirus (COVID-19) in Nigeria had risen to 135. A week ago, the total number of confirmed cases as at Tuesday 24th March 2020 was 44. The data shows a surge of over 100% of confirmed cases within…

“South Africa Suffering from Three Pandemics: COVID-19, Ignorance, Stupidity”

KEKETSO PEETE “… those things kill people who fly, us we don’t fly, we are here in Mzansi [South Africa] year in and year out” This was a statement that was made by an elderly man who was interviewed by an E TV news reporter, in the streets of Johannesburg, on the first day of…

COVID-19: A Simulacrum of the Climate Crisis?

HACER GÖREN 31st March 2020. Contrary to the once dominant optimism among the public that “Turkey is safe and secure”, COVID-19 has not skipped Turkey either. Yes, it is a single and “simple” virus that started to reinscribe not only Turkey but also the entire globe. Since 11th March 2020, when the first corona case…

God, health and COVID-19 in remote Papua New Guinea

MONICA MINNEGAL AND PETER DWYER The first COVID-19 case reached Papua New Guinea (PNG) on 13 March 2020, though it was several days before it was unambiguously confirmed. On 17 March the pandemic was declared a national security issue, and a State of Emergency came into effect on 24 March. By coincidence, in the week commencing Monday 16 March, members…

Global Distrust & the Future of Multilateralism: Reflection on International Relations and Covid-19

FATHI RAYYAN Most of us would be able to recall World War I and its catastrophic outcome that triggered the emergence of the International Relations (IR) discipline in 1919. However, we often overlook a pandemic outbreak that occurred at around the same time in 1918. The Spanish Flu, spread with astonishing speed around the world,…

Technologies of Public Security: Deploying Imaginary Borders

HARRY FLETCHER On the 23rd of January, I sat on the fourth floor of a packed-out library, writing my dissertation. My thesis was on building pandemic resilient airports, and the lessons we could take from the 2003 SARS pandemic (another coronavirus that spread globally as asymptomatic but infectious passengers transited through airports). My institutional email…

Brasil, A Quarentena Como Possibilidade: Um Diálogo Africano E Sul-Americano

ANA GRETEL ECHAZÚ BÖSCHEMEIER & PINGRÉWAOGA BÉMA ABDOUL HADI SAVADOGO A presente é uma reflexão a duas vozes entre pessoas com origens continentais diversas que moram no Brasil. Abdoul Hadi P.B. Savadogo é socioantropólogo, burkinabê-malinês, (Burkina Faso e Mali) atuando no âmbito dos Estudos Africanos. Ana Gretel é antropóloga, feminista, do noroeste de Argentina, trabalhando…

Vulnerability of the Indian Poor

JESSICA GHATODE The global economy seems to be entering troubled territories as the second wave of COVID-19 spread to countries which remained unaffected so far. The economic impact, now no more limited to China, is evidently slowing down other economies including the US economy. Crippling down of world’s two greatest economies is surely bad news…

Hope in the Time of Corona: Indonesia

GEGER RIYANTO We were supposed to have a family dinner. In three days, I will be departing back to Germany. I was coming home for a few weeks to Indonesia in the middle of writing my Ph.D. thesis. Suddenly, during the motorcycle ride to my family’s apartment, my body ached unbearably. My temperature shot up….

Communication, Privilege and the Ironies of Isolation: From Melbourne To Papua New Guinea

MONICA MINNEGAL AND PETER D. DWYER Sunday, 5 April 2020: we are in day 14 of Covid-19 quarantine. We are fortunate to be in our own house in Melbourne, Australia. We can access relatives, friends and news of the world by telephone, email and the internet. We order groceries on-line and they are delivered to…

Another Day In Quarantine: The Transmutation Of The House

MARÍA FLORENCIA BLANCO ESMORIS La Matanza, Buenos Aires, Argentina I didn’t wake up that day like all the others. I had slept badly. My only peace of mind was that my morning had started with a nice mate[1].How beautiful is the certitude when you can embrace it, when it covers you like a shelter or…

The Sleeping Bull in a China Shop

Exploring how Covid19 elucidates exploitation along the crosshairs of the occident vs the orient, and class stratification, in a neo-liberal age. LOUIS A.G. WILKES Night and Day; East and West. Two signifiers of the same spectrum that represent opposites. In a social imaginary that Marshall McLuhan referred to as the ‘global village’ (1962, p293), that…

Homecoming From The City: Covid-19 & Dhaka

MOHAMMAD TAREQ HASAN Due to the outbreak of Covid-19 in Bangladesh, the government has announced a countrywide shutdown. The declaration of “public holiday” came on March 24th in the afternoon. The shutdown – to be started from 26th of March for 10 days – was proposed to restrict community transmission of the coronavirus. Since the…

Pandemics/ Epidemics and the Social Body in Bangladesh

MOHAMMAD TAREQ HASAN Outbreak of Covid-19 virus in Bangladesh has forced the government to shut down all private and public offices except the emergency service providers. The shutdown started from 26th March and will continue until 4th April. The measure of shutting down the country has come after indications of community transmission of the virus…

Green Shoots

KATHARINE DOW ‘We’re in an incredibly unsettling period, globally, nationally. Can I allay some of my anxieties about what this means for me and my kids by buying a few instant mashed potato and extra chickpeas and corned beef? Well, maybe. Does that make me ridiculous? Possibly. Do I feel a bit better about it?…

Privilege In The Times Of Crisis: Musings Of A Field Epidemiology Trainee In India

NUZRATH JAHAN COVID-19 has invaded our lives physically and psychologically. For someone working in the health sector, and a field epidemiology trainee, the first week of COVID-19 went by in a whirlwind for me. Our contact session for the India FETP(Field Epidemiology Training Programme) got suspended and we were posted into field work to be…

2009 Mexico Swine Flu – 2020 Italy Covid19: How I Experienced A Double Quarantine

SARA SALVATORI In this article, I will briefly describe my experiences during the two pandemics, swine flu and COVID-19, when I accidentally lived through quarantine in the most affected countries: Mexico in 2009 and Rome, Italy. When in 2008 I decided to go to Mexico to undertake fieldwork for my doctoral thesis, I could never…

Italy’s Hidden Epidemic: The Shadow of the Mafia over Post-Emergency Europe

FRANCESCO FLORIS On 4th April, more than two months after the declaration of the state of emergency and almost one month after the start of the quarantine throughout the national territory, comforting news began to arrive in Italy. The epidemiological curve has now stabilised, a new hospital specialising entirely in the treatment of critical coronavirus…

Anxiety, Scarcity and Precarity in a Time of COVID-19

SHARLI ANNE PAPHITIS On the 16th of March, I took one of my last trips into the office on the London Overground and found myself completely alone on an eerie train from Kings Cross. I had a feeling I wouldn’t make the journey for some time again since we had already been asked to ‘prepare…