The Covid-19 Crisis in Global Perspective
Meghan Hankla - Georgia College and State University
Covid-19 and Mental Health in Brazil
Covid-19 is a global pandemic that has affected everyone in the world in the past 2 years. No country has been exempt from the pain and hurt that Covid-19 has brought in its wake. I thought it would be interesting to examine the effect of Covid-19 in one of the hardest-hit countries in the world, Brazil. Brazil has been in the news due to the horrifying effects Covid-19 has had on the nation. As a psychology major, I want to focus on the impact Covid-19 has had on Mental Health in Brazil. Covid-19 is still affecting daily life. Mental Health is another issue that typically is ignored or goes unnoticed but still affects daily life. These two topics, Covid-19 and Mental Health are being treated in the world without the gravity that they should. These two topics are relevant because of the treatment they receive in everyday life. They are relevant because, despite people not talking about their mental health or the global pandemic, lives are still being seriously affected and harmed. This paper seeks to examine Brazil’s response to Covid-19, and how Covid-19 has affected the ever stigmatized mental health system. Furthermore, this paper will seek to explain and evaluate the mental health changes as a result of the global pandemic in Brazil.
Jacques Koko - Salisbury University
Resistance to Getting Covid-19 Vaccines in Yaounde Cameroon
This paper examines the impacts of smartphones on subjects’ resistance to getting Covid-19 vaccines in Yaoundé, Cameroon. The paper examines the correlation between smartphone usage and the spread of conspiracy theories. Cross-sectional data collection occurred from August 6th, 2021, through August 11th, 2021, in Yaoundé, Cameroon. Data collection was among a population of daily smartphone users. Data collection procedures included 100 random surveys. The study targeted male and female participants who were at least 18 years of age in Yaoundé. Such a target was purposefully selected to avoid issues of ethical concerns regarding minors. Per the results of the study, smartphone usage contributes to subjects’ resistance to Covid-19 vaccines in the population of target. Fifty-five percent of the respondents indicated that they would have believed in a Covid-19 vaccine and get vaccinated if they did not own a smartphone and had not received bad news about Covid-19 vaccine on their smartphone. Based on the results, the paper calls on governments and smartphone companies to collaborate on coordinating robust information campaigns on the social media to counter the misinformation campaigns occurring on smartphones with negative impacts subjects’ acceptance of the Covid-19 vaccines.
Salvador Santino Regilme - Leiden University
The Covid-19 Pandemic and the War on Terror: Global Crisis Politics of Dehumanization and Human Rights
What do the post-9/11 war on terror and the COVID-19 pandemic have in common? How and under which conditions do global crises exacerbate the politics of dehumanization and undermine human dignity both in the Global North and the Global South? While also considering the unique features of a pandemic and a military security crisis, I examine the commonly shared features of the post-9/11 crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic as global crises that bolstered the politics of dehumanization. Global disasters such as the 9/11 terror attacks in the US and the COVID-19 pandemic are — in many ways — sudden, disruptive, and, unexpected series of events that were deemed enabling background conditions for the discursive construction of a global crisis. Taking a broad perspective of the global order in the 21st century, this article demonstrates that both crises have exacerbated dehumanization of individuals from minoritized socio-economic groups. Dehumanization emerges from four mutually reinforcing macro-social mechanisms of repression: 1) threat construction through securitization; 2) intensified coercion; 3) intensified necrostratification; and 4) entrenchment of a global necropolitical culture. The article discusses the theoretical premises that underpin each mechanism, while also providing demonstrative empirical examples from the human rights crises emerging from the global war on terror and the coronavirus pandemic.