The below reports are all part of the University of Liverpool ODA Rapid Response Funded Project: ‘COVID-19 and Racialised Risk Narratives in South Africa, Ghana and Kenya’. Principal Investigator: Dr Leona Vaughn, Co-Investigator: Dr Allen Kiconco.
You can read more on this project and its findings here.
Racialisation of COVID-19 Pandemic and its Impact in Ghana
Collins Seymah Smith and Nii Kwartelai Quartey
August 2020
In Ghana, COVID-19 has mostly been examined in the context of the discipline of the medical sciences, where prevention of the spread is treated as a public health issue. This is understandable; however, the recognition of COVID-19 only as a public health issue has some limitations. As a result, people have not taken the time to observe, analyse and appreciate the racial and racialised underpinnings of COVID-19 prevention narratives and their manifestation in Ghana, where almost the whole population is Black African.
Download Racialisation of the COVID-19 Pandemic and its Impact in Ghana [PDF]
The COVID-19 Pandemic and Racialised Risk Narratives in Kenya
Isabel Zattu Ziz
August 2020
This report examines the language used by government, media and social media to communicate risk and experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic in Kenya. This report uidentifies several themes concerning racialisation of the the pandemic in Kenya. These include the situation before recording the first infection, the origins of the disease; perceived Black immunity and resistance; government response to the outbreak; anti-Chinese sentiments; and debates on the cure and vaccine of the disease.
Download The COVID-19 Pandemic and Racialised Risk Narratives in Kenya [PDF]
The COVID-19 Pandemic and Racialised Risk Narratives in South Africa
Allen Kiconco
August 2020
This report examines this experience and response to the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa to explore how government, media and social media racialised COVID-19 risk narratives.
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COVID-19 and racialised risk narratives in South Africa, Ghana and Kenya
Vaughn, L., Kiconco, A., Quartey, N.K, Smith, C. S., and Ziz, I.Z.
August 2020
This report brings together the three reports mentioned above into one overview document and outlines the projects overarching methodology. Between the end of May and end of July 2020, at the height of the first wave of the global pandemic, this research project remotely gathered data on the risk narratives for preventing COVID-19 infection in these three African countries. This report explains the extent to which these narratives were found to be ‘racialised’, that is, how narratives were given explicit or implied racial meaning.
Download COVID-19 and Racialised Risk Narratives in South Africa, Ghana and Kenya (PDF)