Constructing the Pandemic in Pakistan

With a focus on the way the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic unfolded in Pakistan, this book casts a critical light on the unique experiences and responses of individuals, community and government. It critically examines how these diverse actors made sense of and navigated the outbreak of disease. The author reveals differing perspectives and multiple narratives that emerged at various levels. The chapters situate the spread of rumors, conspiracy theories, and new social rituals within micro- and/or macro-contexts, and describe the interplay between the virus and various institutionalized forms of inequities and structural vulnerabilities. Touching on socio-cultural, economic, and (geo-)political contexts that make Pakistan a unique case study, the book relates to the past, describes and analyzes the Covidian present, and offers futuristic implications. It enlists distinct imaginaries based on current understandings of an extraordinary challenge that holds significant importance for our human future. Constructing the Pandemic in Pakistan will interest scholars of anthropology, sociology, and the Global South as well as those working in the domains of global and public health.

Inayat Ali is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Fatima Jinnah Women University (FJWU), Rawalpindi, Pakistan. He also serves as Adjunct Professor, Department of Community Medicine, Shifa Tameer-e-Milat University, Islamabad, Pakistan and a Research Fellow in the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Vienna, Austria. And he served as Founding Incharge of the Department of Public Health & Allied Sciences, FJWU, Rawalpindi, Pakistan.

Acknowledgements Preface Introduction Inayat Ali 1. Remasking Structured Disparities: A Tale of Fate, New Untouchables, Unequal Effects, and the "Viral Coup" Inayat Ali 2. Rituals of Containment: Many Pandemics, Body Politics, and Social Dramas during COVID-19 in Pakistan Inayat Ali 3. New Virus, Old Narratives: Contextualizing Rumors, Conspiracy Theories, and Fear Inayat Ali 4. Maternal Health and Systematic Disparities: Multiple Impacts of the Pandemic on Mothers Inayat Ali, Salma Sadique and Shahbaz Ali 5. Birthing Between the "Traditional" and the "Modern": Dai Practices and Childbearing Women's Choices during COVID-19 in Pakistan Inayat Ali, Salma , Shahbaz Ali, and Robbie Davis-Floyd 6. Between Responsibility and Risk: Experiences, Perceptions, Fears, and Responsibilities of Frontline Healthcare Providers Dealing with COVID-19 Inayat Ali, Salma Saddique and Shahbaz Ali 7. Experiencing and Surviving a Pandemic: Live Experiences of COVID-19 Survivors from Pakistan Inayat Ali, Salma Sadique, Shahbaz Ali and Sania Zehra 8. COVID-19 and vaccination campaigns as "Western plots" in Pakistan: Government policies, (geo-)politics and local perceptions and beliefs Inayat Ali, Shahbaz Ali, and Salma Sadique 9. COVID-19 Child Vaccination in Pakistan: Exploring Factors Affecting Parental Choices Inayat Ali, Nida Gulshan Nawaz, and Sania Zahra 10. COVID-19, Multiple Emergencies, and Moral Entanglements: Extraordinary and Transcendental Moral Worlds as a New Way Forward Inayat Ali Conclusions Inayat Ali. Index