key: cord-0779735-y2cxif6n authors: Noel, Tiffany Karalis title: “Conflating Culture With COVID-19: Xenophobic Repercussions of a Global Pandemic” date: 2020-07-07 journal: Social sciences & humanities open DOI: 10.1016/j.ssaho.2020.100044 sha: 0a390a4a31bc3e86b500ea4edcb1fe1c7743f086 doc_id: 779735 cord_uid: y2cxif6n Abstract This commentary aimed to deconstruct xenophobia and its worldwide impact, particularly on people of Asian descent, amid the global COVID-19 pandemic. The commentary begins with an overview of COVID-19’s impact on the United States economy and educational landscape, continues with a discussion about the global history of pandemic-prompted xenophobia and its relationship to sensationalized media discourse, and concludes with recommendations to reconsider various aspects of intercultural communication in relation to public health issues. In the spring of 2020, the global COVID-19 pandemic took the world by storm. COVID-18 19, a highly contagious respiratory illness caused by a coronavirus, prompted a worldwide 19 shutdown of schools, restaurants, and non-essential businesses when countries around the world 20 experienced rampant infections and fatalities. While many public spaces such as P-12 schools 21 (i.e. schools that serve students through primary and secondary grades), restaurants, and non-22 essential businesses located in highly affected areas closed for a period of at least one month, due 23 to increasing rates of reported infections, the dates for reopening and resuming normal activity Organization, 2020). Further, there is no confirmed date by which quarantine and social-36 distancing precautions will officially end and regular activities will resume in America, partially 37 evidenced by universities' decisions to continue online instruction during fall 2020 (Garber, 38 2020; White, 2020). In February and March of 2020, as United States cities such as Seattle, San Francisco, 40 and New York City began to see rapidly increasing numbers of infections and deaths, P-12 41 schools and universities responded quickly to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's the influenza pandemic of 1918 or SARS pandemic of 2003, for instance. Evidenced by "Spanish flu", "Mexican swine flu", and "Ebola virus" can be psychologically damaging and signify how authorities and the public respond to an epidemic. "Scholars argue that promoting an 74 association between foreigners and a particular epidemic can be a rhetorical strategy for 75 promoting fear or, alternatively, imparting a sense of safety to the public," and the pervasive use 76 of social media has raised the urgency for officials to disseminate non-stigmatizing names as 77 soon as new diseases are identified (Hoppe, 2018, p. 1462). Although WHO has since published guidelines on best practices for naming diseases in 79 an effort to curb stigmatized communication (WHO, 2015) , in May 1995, Western media 80 coverage of the Ebola outbreak in Zaire began. Ebola, a lethal virus that causes severe bleeding 81 and organ failure, became a real-life outbreak "in a cultural atmosphere already infused with the 82 threat of infection" (Ungar, 1998, p. 45) . Ungar (1998) referred to the timing of the Ebola Zaire 83 epidemic as "exquisite" for unleashing a hot crisis (it occurred just after the release of Outbreak, 84 a movie that eerily mirrored the epidemic), prompted an unprecedented frenzy of media 85 coverage, and led various countries to tighten their borders (p. 46). Aligned with Hoppe's (2018) 86 discussion of xenophobia as a rhetorical strategy, Ungar (1998) described globalization and 87 othering as "part of the analytical tool kits available to journalists and…agenda-setters" (p. 53). The media, following their standard practices, initially presented Ebola as the 89 embodiment of the worst of the mutation-contagion package. Numerous references to 90 'panic' over Days 2 and 3 suggest that reporters apprehended an impending epidemic of 91 fear. During these days, the media simultaneously moderated its coverage and shifted to 92 the containment package. It took several days and some deft analytic maneuvers and 93 factual oversights, but the media was able to fashion a package that, at a theoretical level, 94 sequestered the disease by 'othering' the situation in Zaire (Ungar, 1998, p. 52 ). Fast-forward to 2014, the Ebola virus returned and spread to seven more countries Cause" (from the New York Times on the same day). This pattern represents a delicate 126 balance in public discourse (p. 1654). As such, if we wish to combat and overcome xenophobia, we must examine and ameliorate the 129 systems that produce and constrain it. Pandemics are not explicitly defined as widespread infectious diseases; rather, they evoke 132 social and political responses that may link to historically-embedded anxieties surrounding 133 "political-economic relations, foreign intervention, conflict or social control" (Leach, 2020, para. (Table 1) . Furthermore, when combined with a misconception of the nature of the 139 etiological agent, hot-button headline phrases such as "killer virus", "deadly virus", and "Wuhan As such, "harm can be caused, especially when fake news is disconnected from the • A young white girl told her parents she was going to "die" (repeatedly) and her parents 198 asked, "Why?" And she said, "of coronavirus" and pointed in my direction. • Professor sent an email to all of his students in English class and called COVID-19 the 200 "Wuhan virus." • We here holding a public webinar in Chinese on COVID-19 and families. In the last 202 minutes, we were Zoom-bombed by a group and participants were exposed to racist and 203 vulgar images, curses, harassment, and name-calling. In another study of COVID-19-influenced discrimination and social exclusion, He et al. As such, in addition to using increased distance learning opportunities to encourage students and 304 surrounding communities to think critically about media and information literacy, as well as 305 dissuade their engagement with and/or utilization of sensationalist propaganda, instructors and 306 educational leaders may constructively take advantage of the shift to online learning and use of 307 virtual platforms as tools for promoting justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion. The optimistic view is that social media could prove useful at a time when many of us are Media Lab. Those discussions are "reflecting how society is thinking and reacting to the 313 crisis," Hancock says (de la Garza, 2020, para.1). To address xenophobia, it is essential to understand why certain diseases and social professionals to "inform efforts that are more sensitive, contextually attuned -and perhaps more 326 likely to be effective" (Leach, 2020, para. 12). Gay, R. (2020, May 30). Remember, No One Is Coming to Save Us. Retrieved from Covid-19 has inflamed racism against Asian-Americans. Here's how to 460 fight back No, calling the novel coronavirus the 'Wuhan virus' is not racist Transparency during public health 466 emergencies: from rhetoric to reality The 1918 influenza pandemic: lessons learned and 469 not-introduction to the special section Fear and Stigma: The Epidemic 472 within the SARS Outbreak Covering urban unrest: The headline says it all They look at me and think I'm some kind of virus': What it's like 476 to be Asian during the coronavirus pandemic Fake news judgement: The case of 480 undergraduate students at Scholars confront coronavirus-related racism in the classroom, in 483 research and in community outreach Trump Defends Using 'Chinese Virus' 487 Ignoring Growing Criticism COVID-19-related prejudice toward Asian medical students: 490 A consequence of SARS-CoV-2 fears in Poland Online fake news, hateful posts against refugees, and a 492 surge in xenophobia and hate crimes in Austria Refugee Politics: Journalism, Public Opinion and Policymaking Cornyn: China to blame for coronavirus, because 'people 496 eat bats 2019-nCoV, fake news, and racism. The Lancet This analysis shows how fake election news stories outperformed real 501 news on Facebook How comprehensible are newspaper headlines? 505 Closing the schools: lessons from the The effect of headlines on the interpretation of news stories Initial 511 genetic characterization of the 1918 "Spanish" influenza virus Spit On, Yelled At Americans Fear for Their Safety Film Club: 'Coronavirus Racism Infected My High 517 Transparency, public relations and the mass media Hot crises and media reassurance: A comparison of emerging diseases and 522 America's 'Two Deadly Viruses'-Racism And Covid-19-Go Viral 525 Among Outraged Twitter Users Learning to be a leper: a case study in the social construction of illness Understanding and Applying Medical Anthropology CSU Chancellor Timothy P. White's Statement on Fall WHO Report on Global Surveillance 536 of Epidemic-prone Infectious Diseases -Influenza World Health Organization Best Practices for 539 the Naming of New Human Infectious Diseases WHO Coronavirus Disease Trump tweets about coronavirus using term 'Chinese Virus What's spreading faster than coronavirus 549 in the US? Racist assaults and ignorant attacks against Asians How the coronavirus is surfacing America's deep-seated anti-Asian 553 biases We are not COVID-19: Asian Americans speak 556 out on racism