The Othering of the Black Community in News Media Reports During the Ebola Epidemic of 2013 to 2016

The purpose of this paper is to identify and analyze the racial undertones found in the news media reports on the West Africa Ebola outbreak of 2013 to 2016, focusing mainly on the portrayal of North American cases on television. As with many political activist issues, the first step to making a change for the better is recognizing exactly where the errors are made. Through the analysis of news reports posted by CityNews and The National, the paper identifies four critical themes: Othering, Them versus Us, and the impact of Visualization. Othering is the process of alienating the Black community from the rest of the population as the leading responsible factor for Ebola. This creates a dilemma of Them (the Black community) versus Us (the general population) that exasperates the already existing racial tensions. All of which is done not only by what is expressed by the reporters, but what is shown on the screen as part of the news story. This is evidence of systemic institutional racism in the media industry. By understanding the key reoccurring themes of racism found in the event of an epidemic, society can be better prepared to confront the situation when it arises again.

Income Status and Education as Predictors of HIV Transmission in South Africa

The global Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) epidemic targets various populations around the world, and South Africa is one of a number of countries where prevalence rates of the virus continue to increase despite the introduction of a viable treatment option. Previously investigated implications of HIV in South Africa are primarily related to its effects on the health-care sector of the country. However, complex socioeconomic processes are relevant to the discussion of HIV-related risk factors and consequences affecting individuals and households within South Africa. A large body of literature covers many socioeconomic perspectives on HIV, including the effect of socioeconomic status on HIV infection. While the roles of income status and education as risk factors for HIV infection have been explored extensively in a South African context, the connection between this and consequent adverse impacts on these factors as a result of HIV infection has not been clearly identified. This paper aims to address the gap in the literature regarding how specific socioeconomic factors act as risk factors for HIV contraction, but also how the same factors are affected as an associated outcome in those infected with HIV. Specifically, this paper argues that income status and education act as risk factors for HIV through their effects on individual behaviour, while also being adversely impacted due to the occurrence of infection. These impacts on income status and education contribute to South Africa’s inability to stop perpetuating the cycle of HIV prevalence.

Humanitarian aid policy changes following the 2010 cholera outbreak in Haiti

The current cholera outbreak in Haiti arose as a result of inadequate humanitarian aid management by the United Nations following the 2010 earthquake in the country. Nepalese peacekeepers spread the water-borne disease through improper sanitation and waste disposal, resulting in re-emergence of the infection after 150 years. In 2016, the United Nations formally apologized for its role in the spread of the cholera epidemic that has killed more than nine thousand Haitians to date. Though many studies discuss the origin of the epidemic, there is a lack of comparison between initial response practices and current practices. Therefore, it is difficult to understand how disaster relief has evolved as a result of the Haiti epidemic. This paper argues that the training of humanitarian aid workers to avoid spreading infectious diseases like cholera in areas receiving disaster relief has not sufficiently improved. Specifically, this paper will analyze what recommendations were put forth following the 2010 Haitian earthquake and to what extent those recommendations have been implemented. By comparing past and current humanitarian aid practices in areas requiring disaster relief, this paper will outline the ways in which humanitarian practices need to change to prevent the spread of infections from emergency workers.

Introduction: Infectious Diseases as Agents of Change

This introduction outlines the focus of this special issue of NEXUS on the anthropology of infectious disease, and details the themes explored by each author.

Tuberculosis in South Africa: An Analysis of Socio-Economic Factors

Tuberculosis has historically thrived in some of the most impoverished and marginalized populations; however, research into why lower socio-economic populations are at a higher risk of contracting diseases remains to be a topic lacking exploration. This is becoming a more prevalent issue as multi-drug resistant Tuberculosis (MDR-TB) and extensively-drug resistant Tuberculosis (XDR-TB) are on the rise in individuals living in poverty. The main research question that will be addressed in this paper is: How do socio-economic inequalities play a role in rising incidence rates of Tuberculosis in South Africa, and what are the future challenges in dealing with MDR-TB and XDR-TB? South Africa is a particularly important country of focus because of the racial inequity that has resulted in economic disparity, and a large percentage of the population living below the poverty line. Reviews of existing literature on Tuberculosis and correlations to poverty will be critically analyzed and applied, as well as the use of government documents, including Statistics South Africa, and the World Health Organization. A cross-cultural comparison of Canada and South Africa will be included to highlight the long-term effects of marginalization societal stratification. The health care policies dealing with treatment will also be discussed, with a specific focus on social epidemiology. This paper will argue that long-term racial inequalities in South Africa has result in economic disparity, through which Black Africans and people of Colour are more susceptible to contracting TB, MDR-TB, and insufficient health resources to support them.

Reframing ABC prevention: the value of ethnographic research in creating culturally relevant HIV programs in Belize

Since its emergence in 1983, public health professionals have been working to effectively prevent the transmission of HIV. The ABC method or prevention, referring to promotion of abstinence, condoms and being faithful, has been employed extensively throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Contrastingly, the Belizean epidemic has received very little attention from ABC researchers. Although some research exists looking into the determinants of sexual HIV transmission in Belize, very little is understood about the cultural norms that perpetuate these factors. In order to make recommendations for the efficient implementation of ABC programs in Belize, case studies from Botswana, Zaire and Uganda will be used to review past experiences of ABC in Africa, and identify the cultural challenges faced in their implementation. Case studies found that programs that relied heavily on abstinence and condom promotion did not work well in these contexts due to opposing views of sexuality, while balanced programs that emphasized being faithful were more successful within these cultures. Ethnographic research is needed to fill knowledge gaps regarding Belizean sexuality. Namely, future research should seek to understand the male view of sexuality in particular, as well as differences in generational views of sex. Public health workers should also aim to create programs that engage the community in order to build trust, as well as understand the role of community leaders and celebrities in influencing local views of sex. These insights provide future researchers a starting point for building effective ABC programs that work within the given culture rather than against it.

A Case for Reversing Language Shift on the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua

I examine the work being done by the Linguistic Research and Revitalization Institute (IPILC) at the University of the Autonomous Regions of the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua (URACCAN) and the dilemmas faced in claiming and implementing the linguistic rights that were granted under the 1987 Law of Autonomy for the Caribbean Coast Regions. The problems I discuss in this case are not unique to Nicaragua’s Creoles, nor to Black diaspora cultures, they are merely part of larger issues which affect all minoritized groups who seek to assert the legitimacy of their languages and cultures within hegemonic discourses around cultural difference.

Presence of the Diffuse Idiopathic Skeletal Hyperostosis in Avinganya rural population (Lleida, Iberian Peninsula).

Diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis (DISH) has largely been associated with high socioeconomic status rather than lower social status in paleopathological studies. This difference has been explained as a consequence of a high intake of fats and sedentary lifestyle that could be related to metabolic syndrome and obesity, associated risk factors in DISH by some clinical authors. This association is also known as the ‘monastic way of life’. In this work, we present a DISH case corresponding to a male individual exhumed from a civil burial site of the necropolis of the Trinitarian Monastery of Avinganya, in the North-East of Iberian Peninsula. In this case, DISH coexists with some evidences of occupational stress markers (back lesions and traumas) that indicate a non-sedentary lifestyle, despite the individuals overweight. Therefore, the present case of DISH seems to contradict the ‘monastic way of life’ association. The previous relationship can be explained as a bias in the sample analysed, where high status individuals have longer survival ratios, so more probabilities to develop DISH, because age is a proved risk factor. In this way, mechanical stress is proposed as another risk factor of DISH, which is more accurate to explain this case.

Social Stratification and the Distribution of Capital in Kerala, India: Applying Bourdieu to the Centre for Research and Education for Social Transformation

Long heralded as an oasis of caste ­consciousness and political mobilization against the formalized caste system in India (Devika, 2010; Steur, 2009), in truth, structural inequality arranged across caste lines persists in the state of Kerala (Mosse, 2010; Nampoothiri, 2009; Isac, 2011). In Kerala, and in India more broadly, inequality is maintained through social categorization; social networks emerging from and mirroring the divisions between castes impart dis/advantages to their members. In the midst of India’s economic liberalization, neoliberal trends including the privatization of education have ossified structures of access to higher education and, as such, competitive employment opportunities (Nampoothiri, 2009). Members of the dominant or ‘upper’ castes continue to be awarded disproportionate access to that which their society values and the tools necessary to succeed while Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) communities operate at a structural disadvantage. This systemic unequal access is precisely what the Centre for Research and Education for Social Transformation (CREST) - an autonomous institution that seeks to enhance the employability of ST, SC and other eligible communities in Kerala - aims to address. I situate the ethnographic fieldwork I conducted at CREST within the theoretical framework outlined in Bourdieu’s (1986) seminal work The Forms of Capital. This approach elucidates the mechanisms through which CREST prepares ST, SC and other eligible communities’ graduates to succeed in contemporary Kerala’s competitive job market. I demonstrate how CREST facilitates the cultivation, adoption and transmission of cultural and social capital among its students and their communities, effectively increasing their capacity for socio-economic mobility. Furthermore, I discuss the potential of CREST to encourage its students’ development of critical perspectives on caste-disparity in their home state.

The Harmful Consequences of Living with HIV in Contemporary Society

Recent research conducted on the topic of risk has predominantly focused on the measurability of an event occurring in modern society. Although attempts are made to incorporate the theoretical examination of social dimensions in the study of risk, considerable diversity remains in defining the nature of risk. This paper employs Foucault (2008), Beck (1992), and Douglas (1992) to understand the class-based positioning that occurs to define the concept of risk and explores the effect of these understandings on the population. The inclusion of individual understandings of harm can assist in rendering invisible hazards, reduce contradictory understandings of risk in social systems, and direct social research beyond the measurability of ill events.Keywords: risk, risk society, political, harm