Race and Ideology in a Pandemic: White Privilege and Patterns of Risk Perception during COVID-19

Drawing on a unique survey dataset of Californians collected during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, this article examines how race and ideology shape perceptions of risk. Specifically, we position the pandemic as an "unsettled time" (Swidler 1986) and examine how different racialized groups made sense of the economic and health risks posed during this unprecedented period. We find that even when accounting for economic precarity and potential exposure to COVID-19, as well as for various other measures of social status, racialized minorities felt significantly more threatened by COVID-19 than did whites. Religion and political ideology mediated this relationship to some degree, but the racialized differences were substantial. Indeed, we find that even the most liberal whites reported being significantly less concerned about some COVID-19 risks than the most politically conservative of our Latinx and Black respondents. By linking the literature on race and racial stratification with research on risk and culture, we argue that whiteness facilitates a cognitive insulating effect vis-à-vis COVID-19 risks. We discuss the theoretical implications of our findings and conclude by highlighting the enduring importance of racialization, including various manifestations of white privilege, when assessing the social and cultural realities of crises on the ground. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Social Problems is the property of Oxford University Press / USA and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Anthropause environmentalisms: Noticing natures with the Self‐Isolating Bird Club

This paper offers a detailed empirical account of how human-environment relations were reconfigured in the UK and Ireland during the 2020-2021 COVID-19 lockdowns, a period which natural scientists defined as the COVID-19 Anthropause. Bringing this scientific concept into conversation with geographical work, we consider anthropause as both a lived condition and an historical moment of space-time decompression. Our expanded conceptualisation of anthropause, centred on lived experience and everyday life, develops a more hopeful politics than those offered by the 'Great Acceleration' narrative, which suggests digital media and urbanisation separate humans from nature. In contrast, we identify affirmative and inclusive modes of 'anthropause environmentalism' and explore their potential for fostering convivial human-nature relations in a world that is increasingly urban, digital, and powered by vernacular expertise. To make this argument, we turn to the Self-Isolating Bird Club, an online birdwatching community operating across several social media platforms which, at the pandemic's height, reached over 50,000 members. We trace three key changes to human-nature relations illustrated by this group which we use to structure our paper: connection, community and cultivation. The COVID-19 Anthropause recalibrated the fabric and rhythms of everyday life, changing what counts as a meaningful human-nature relationship. This paper will be of interest to geographers exploring environmental change at the interface of more-than-human and digital geographies, as well as environmentalists and conservationists. To conclude, we offer suggestions as to how scholars and practitioners might harness the lessons of anthropause to respond to the 'anthropulse'.

Precarious whiteness in pandemic times in China

In this introduction we explore how the effects of the outbreak of Covid-19 in January 2020 have challenged, undermined, and transformed the racialized privileges of various groups of white migrants in China. While whiteness can be an invisible hegemonic construction in Western societies, it becomes a highly visible minority status in China. We introduce the concept of "precarious whiteness" to flesh out the multi-layered tensions in the transnational circulation and reconfiguration of white privilege, particularly in China. The articles in this special issue focus on white migrants in four domains: transnational business and entrepreneurship, Chinese-foreign families, digital media platforms, and online English teaching. Together they foreground the highly contested and fragmented nature of white racial formation in a critical historical moment of Covid-19. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Asian Anthropology (1683478X) is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

Afghanistan, the Taliban and the liberation narrative Why it is so vital to be telling our own stories

In the context of a liberation narrative, an Afghanistani broadcaster and cultural affairs adviser now living in Aotearoa New Zealand, examines the problems with this narrative when applied to the recent controversy around a pregnant New Zealand journalist in Afghanistan and her conflict with the New Zealand government and the MIQ system. Firstly, this narrative relies on the assumption that 'there isn't anyone in Afghanistan who can write in English and tell the stories of Afghanistan to the world'. It also relies on the assumption that a foreigner can tell Afghanistan's story. Secondly, to the extent that it creates an expectation of unconditional gratitude on the part of its 'beneficiaries', this narrative denies the value of immigrants in society. The author argues she personally contributes to building social cohesion in New Zealand's multicultural environment. More generally, New Zealand's economy and workforce rely on immigrants, as has become increasingly apparent in the face of COVID-19 restrictions. The media's liberation narrative fails to do justice to the value and importance of this contribution. The author argues that the antidote is a narrative characterised by diversity and solidarity, that builds up and builds on the voices, experiences and wisdom of Maori and Indigenous, minorities and immigrants.

Rethinking the issue of reparations for Black Americans.

The differential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on communities of color in the United States along with the civil unrest taking place in 2020 in response to the killing of unarmed Black men and women by the police have increased awareness of the structural racism pervading US society. These developments have reraised the issue of reparations for Black Americans, usually proposed in the context of providing financial compensation for the injustices of slavery to the descendants of those who were enslaved. This paper will discuss the systematic racial inequality and structural racism in US society that have significantly disadvantaged racial and ethnic minorities while giving advantages to white Americans, which most recently have resulted in significantly higher mortality and morbidity among Black, Hispanic, and Native Americans during the pandemic. The paper will conceptualize reparations within the context of theories of reparative justice. It will also consider whether reparations are owed, and if so, by whom, to whom, and in what form. The final section will offer a proposal for collective reparations to the Black community and other people of color.