IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cup/intorg/v74y2020is1pe213-e230_11.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Politics of Pandemic Othering: Putting COVID-19 in Global and Historical Context

Author

Listed:
  • Dionne, Kim Yi
  • Turkmen, Fulya Felicity

Abstract

As COVID-19 began to spread around the world, so did reports of discrimination and violence against people from marginalized groups. We argue that in a global politics characterized by racialized inequality, pandemics such as COVID-19 exacerbate the marginalization of already oppressed groups. We review published research on previous pandemics to historicize pandemic othering and blame, and enumerate some of the consequences for politics, policy, and public health. Specifically, we draw on lessons from smallpox outbreaks, the third bubonic plague, the 1918 influenza pandemic, and more recent pandemics, such as HIV/AIDS, SARS, and Ebola. We also compile reports to document the discrimination and violence targeting marginalized groups early in the COVID-19 pandemic. This article lays bare the continuation of a long history of othering and blame during disease outbreaks and identifies needs for further inquiry to understand the persistence of these pandemic politics.

Suggested Citation

  • Dionne, Kim Yi & Turkmen, Fulya Felicity, 2020. "The Politics of Pandemic Othering: Putting COVID-19 in Global and Historical Context," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 74(S1), pages 213-230, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:cup:intorg:v:74:y:2020:i:s1:p:e213-e230_11
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0020818320000405/type/journal_article
    File Function: link to article abstract page
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Yoo, Nari & Jang, Sou Hyun, 2024. "Does social empathy moderate fear-induced minority blaming during the COVID-19 pandemic?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 346(C).
    2. Carol Nash, 2021. "Challenges to Learners in Interpreting Self as Other, Post COVID-19," Challenges, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-24, November.
    3. Bo Zhou & Lei Jiang, 2022. "Unsustainable Urban Development Based on Temporary Workers: A Study on the Changes of Immigration in Macau between 1992 and 2019," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-19, November.
    4. Ho, Kung-Cheng & Yao, Chia-ling & Zhao, Chenfang & Pan, Zikui, 2022. "Modern health pandemic crises and stock price crash risk," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 448-463.
    5. Lonnie R. Snowden & Jonathan M. Snowden, 2021. "Coronavirus Trauma and African Americans’ Mental Health: Seizing Opportunities for Transformational Change," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(7), pages 1-10, March.
    6. Aleem Mahabir & Romario Anderson & Robert Kinlocke & Rose-Ann Smith & Kristinia Doughorty & Chandradath Madho, 2022. "Discourse, Difference, and Divergence: Exploring Media Representations and Online Public Sentiments toward Marginalized Urban Communities in Jamaica during the COVID-19 Pandemic," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-18, May.
    7. Dušan Ristić & Dušan Marinković, 2022. "Biopolitics of othering during the COVID-19 pandemic," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-8, December.
    8. Pramod R. Regmi & Shovita Dhakal Adhikari & Nirmal Aryal & Sharada P. Wasti & Edwin van Teijlingen, 2022. "Fear, Stigma and Othering: The Impact of COVID-19 Rumours on Returnee Migrants and Muslim Populations of Nepal," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(15), pages 1-14, July.
    9. Ojong, Nathanael & Agbe, Eyram, 2023. "“This is most likely not the correct vaccine”: Analyzing COVID-19's viral spread and vaccine anxieties in Ghana, Cameroon, and Malawi," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 329(C).
    10. Youngwan Kim & Sang-Hwan Lee & Young Jun Cho, 2023. "Donor motivation in the era of the COVID-19 crisis: Focusing on South Korean health diplomacy and response aid to COVID-19," International Area Studies Review, Center for International Area Studies, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, vol. 26(1), pages 71-86, March.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cup:intorg:v:74:y:2020:i:s1:p:e213-e230_11. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Kirk Stebbing (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cambridge.org/ino .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.