Epidemiology as methodology: COVID-19, Ukraine, and the problem of whiteness

ABSTRACT

This article introduces epidemiology as a methodology for performing critical cultural studies and for excavating meaning in times of disparate global crises. I explore the interconnections between COVID-19, the Black Lives Matter movement, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine to examine the interconnections between health, colonialism and whiteness. I introduce the term “epidemiology of whiteness” to illustrate how whiteness functions as an unexamined privilege that directly impacts population health.

KEYWORDS:

• COVID-19
• Ukraine
• epidemiology
• whiteness

Acknowledgements

This piece was completed during a particularly traumatic time. I would like to thank my friends and colleagues who reached out with words of support, means of distraction, and offers of childcare. I would not have been able to write this without you. I am particularly grateful to Dr. Robin Boylorn whose words of encouragement for this piece meant more than I can possibly articulate.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Ronald Labonte, Michael Polanyi, Nazeem Muhajarine, Tom Mcintosh, and Allison Williams. "Beyond the divides: Towards critical population health research." Critical Public Health 15, no. 1 (2005): 5-17; Laura Potts "An epidemiology of women's lives: the environmental risk of breast cancer." Critical Public Health 14, no. 2 (2004): 133-147.

2 Krieger, Nancy. Epidemiology and the people's health: theory and context. Oxford University Press, 2011.

3 Adriana Petryna. Life exposed. Princeton University Press, 2013, 33

4 Marina Levina, “Under Lenin’s Watchful Eye: Growing Up in the Former Soviet Union,” Surveillance & Society 15, no. 3/4 (2017): 529.

5 Achille Mbembé. "Necropolitics." Public Culture 15, no. 1 (2003): 17.

6 Ibid, 40.

7 James McAuley, “Putin’s ‘denazification’ claims and the self-serving manipulation of history,” Washington Post, February 28, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/02/28/ukraine-putin-zelensky-nazis-assault-history/ (accessed March 28, 2022).

8 Jasbir Puar. The Right to Maim. Duke University Press, 2017: xiii.

9 Ibid, xviii.

10 Alice Park, “Why Ukraine’s COVID-19 Problem Is Everyone’s Problem,” Time, March 2, 2022, https://time.com/6153254/ukraine-russia-war-covid-19/ (accessed March 28, 2022).

11 Susan D’Agostino, “Wildfires break out in Chernobyl amid a non-functioning radiation-monitoring system,” Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, March 23, 2022, https://thebulletin.org/2022/03/wildfires-break-out-in-chernobyl-amid-a-non-functioning-radiation-monitoring-system/?fbclid=IwAR1mac8FzcNcPWtoskW0C9Q1Xy8ZyFSOxUordaEjm8vyzFt0NYOS9ju-eCU (accessed March 28, 2022).

12 Sabrina Strings. Fearing the black body. New York University Press, 2019.

13 Larry Buchanan, Quoctrung Bui and Jugal K. Patel, “Black Lives Matter May Be the Largest Movement in U.S. History,” New York Times, July 3, 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/07/03/us/george-floyd-protests-crowd-size.html (accessed March 28, 2022).

14 Lauren Powell, “My nightmare: Covid-19 meets racism meets the killing of a Black person by police,” Stat News, June 2, 2020, https://www.statnews.com/2020/06/02/my-nightmare-covid-19-meets-racism-meets-george-floyd-killing/ (accessed March 28, 2022).

15 Mallory Simon, “Over 1,000 health professionals sign a letter saying, Don't shut down protests using coronavirus concerns as an excuse,” CNN News, June 5, 2020, https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/05/health/health-care-open-letter-protests-coronavirus-trnd/index.html (accessed March 28, 2022).

16 Powell, 2020

17 Rachel R.Hardeman, Eduardo M. Medina, and Rhea W. Boyd. "Stolen breaths." New England Journal of Medicine 383, no. 3 (2020): 197-199.

18 The Humanist Report, “Anti-Mask Lunatic Tries to Co-Opt George Floyd's "I Can't Breathe" Plea.” YouTube video, 5:08, September 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYIIN-Rj8F8 (accessed March 28, 2022).

19 Thomas K. Nakayama and Robert L. Krizek. "Whiteness: A strategic rhetoric." Quarterly journal of Speech 81, no. 3 (1995): 291-309.

20 Sara Ahmed, "A Phenomenology of Whiteness," Feminist Theory 8, issue 2 (2007): 150