ABSTRACT
The coronavirus pandemic has exposed a global tendency throughout history to blame immigrants for propagating epidemics. Chinese individuals were thus targeted during past public health crises in Peru, but during the current coronavirus pandemic racist notions painting people of Chinese descent as "agents of contagion" diminished significantly. Here we examine three major epidemics (yellow fever, the bubonic plague, and covid-19) to demonstrate the current and somewhat surprising shift in negative attitudes toward the Chinese community. Peruvians' refusal to embrace derogatory terms (the "Chinese virus") or target individuals of Asian descent constitutes an intriguing case at a moment when xenophobic discourse is rampant in the Western hemisphere.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Racism , COVID-19/epidemiology , China/epidemiology , Human Migration , Humans , Pandemics , Peru/epidemiologyABSTRACT
The change in relationships with the victims of coronavirus is one of the most disturbing and least explored consequences of all the ways in which covid-19 has altered our lives over the last year. This essay examines the various strategies Peruvians have developed to compensate for the inability to attend funerals and burials in person due to government-imposed social distancing measures. The use of digital platforms, mainly social media, made it possible to recreate funeral rites and allowed the necessary grieving under adverse circumstances. Using a comparative approach, the essay concludes that it is necessary to erect a memorial to the victims of covid-19 as a way of raising public awareness, and that of future generations, about the need to prepare for an eventual future pandemic.
El cambio en la relación con las víctimas a causa del coronavirus es una de las consecuencias más perturbadoras y menos explorada de todos los aspectos entre los cuales la covid-19 ha alterado nuestras vidas en el último año. Este ensayo examina las estrategias que los peruanos han desarrollado para compensar la imposibilidad de participar en funerales y entierros debido a las medidas de distanciamiento social. La incorporación de plataformas digitales permitieron recrear rituales funerarios y permitir el duelo necesario en circunstancias adversas. El ensayo concluye que es necesario erigir un memorial a las víctimas de la covid-19 como una manera de concientizar a la población y futuras generaciones sobre la necesidad de preparación ante una eventual próxima pandemia.