Online Conference, April 2021: COVID-19 As Revelatory Pandemic in Latin America?
Digital collection for onliine conference, "A Revelatory Pandemic?
COVID-19 as Disaster
Photo essay curating insights from critical disaster studies for the transnational disaster STS COVID-19 project.
COVID, Disaster, Guatamala
Cover image for text on COVID and disaster.
COVID-19 as Disaster
Digital collection supporting a Transnational Disaster STS COVID-19 Collaboration Call, Thursday, July 9, 2020.
Covid-19 may be compuounded by both Anti-Blackness and preceding disasters
Roberto E. BarriosIn New Orleans, African American communities were not only hit hard by Katrina's floods, but also by violent policing during the catastrophe and a disaster "recovery" effort that was fundamentally Anti-Black (closing of publich housing and the privatization of schools and health care). Recovery efforts were not organized along ideals of racial justice that would have addressed gaps in educational and health care resources. Instead, they were imagined along neoliberal principles that systematically excluded the city's Black population. I am interested in looking into how the Anti-Blackness of Katrina "recovery" set the stage for the virulent way COVID 19 is affecting New Orleans' African American communities.
In the US Virgin Islands, Hurricanes Maria and Irma decimated what were already decrepit public school and public health systems. Public schools and hospitals had not been property repaired and remained under-supported as of early March 2020. In places like the Island of St. Croix, residents reported the hospital having only one physicial on staff, and indicated fear of misdiagnosis and prolonged waiting times kept them from seeking health care there. The clientelle of the public health system is predominantly Afro and Hispanic Caribbean. Meanwhile, US "mainlanders" (who are predominantly white) are reported to seek their healthcare off island, something only those with ample financial resources can do. Infection rates and fatality rates for the USVI seem rather low from official reports, but it is important to find out if this is because testing itself is not readily avialable in the territory.
Disproportionate and violent policing of racial/ethnic minorities has continued and evloved.
Roberto E. BarriosMedia coverage from hard-hit cities suggests there is a disproportionate number of arrests and citations related to enforcement of social distancing among racial minorities.
Also, police response seems to have followed very different patterns in the case of "re-open" protests and anti-police brutality protests.
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seanw146The IAEA is made up of 168 countries and its goal is to promote the peaceful use of atomic knowledge. While the IAEA is against the weaponization of nuclear technology but is for promotion of other uses of nuclear power.
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seanw146The membership of the IAEA consists of 168 countries as of February 2016. Membership includes all major countries and every nuclear power other than North Korea. To become a member state, a country must submit an application which is then reviewed by the IAEA Board of Governors who determine if the applying country is willing and able to uphold the charter. Then the general conference must approve the application and grant the state membership. It is important to know that a country does not need to join the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to be a member of the IAEA. Currently India, Israel, Pakistan, and the South Sudan have not signed and North Korea is withdrawn. (iaea.org)
Conference program:
A Revelatory Pandemic? Disaster Social Science and COVID 19 in Latin America
April 20 and 27, 2021