COVID-19 Responses in Yucatan

A Critical Medical Anthropology Perspective on Risk Communication, Pandemic Obedience, and Rumors

Author: Patricia Oulehla Series: BestMasters

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As decision-making about risk communication and policies can be especially challenging during times of crisis, this research contributes to a better understanding of the dynamics of risk communication and its effects on the public, while paying attention to issues around communicability and health inequity.

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This book offers a critical medical anthropological approach on health communication during the COVID-19 pandemic. As decision-making about risk communication and policies can be especially challenging during times of crisis, this research contributes to a better understanding of the dynamics of risk communication and its effects on the public, while paying attention to issues around communicability and health inequity. To examine the perception of public health messages around the COVID-19 pandemic in Yucatan, Mexico Patricia Oulehla conducted 21 semi-structured interviews. Findings demonstrate that local perceptions of COVID-19 were influenced by both media and government information campaigns, as well as by rumors, which emerge in times of uncertainty, often stemming from social and political tensions. As inequality has been amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic, already marginalized groups, such as the Mayan population of rural villages have been at greater risk during the pandemic. Therefore, this research explores how colonial continuities manifest themselves in health policies, access to health-related information as well as the spread of rumors.

About the Author

Patricia Oulehla completed her Master's degree in Social and Cultural Anthropology at the FU Berlin in July 2022. Since then, she has been working as an educational expert and trainer in the field of civic education, educating different target groups on topics of discrimination, diversity and media literacy.