Not like US: The Covid-۱۹ and racialization of the pandemic politics

Since December ۲۰۱۹, and discovery of coronavirus in Wuhan, China, the world is facing an unprecedented global crisis which has caused serious social, political and economic disruptions. Historically, pandemics are linked with “othering”, the public tends to view and link newly emerged diseases as originating from out-groups or "others". While individuals' fear and panic can be considered irrational reactions to an unknown disease, systemic use of racist terminology and policy can be viewed as a deliberate social construct. The Covid-۱۹ pandemic has led to a new form of politicized racism aimed specifically at non-western races, cultures, and ethnicities. With circulation of misinformation through mass media and social media platforms, racial and geographical discrimination increased in different ways: a growing culture of Sinophobic racism directed at people of Asian descent in Euro-American societies. With the progression of the outbreak to other hotspot countries, the pandemic was further racialized through establishing the Western/Eastern dichotomy. The present paper is concerned with geographical and racial framing of “modern West vs. the Rest” in Euro-American mainstream news outlets during three major phases of the Corona Pandemic: ۱. who is to blame for the spread of the virus? ۲. lockdown strategies and “brutal” measures; ۳. Covid-۱۹ science, vaccines and vaccinations. To this aim, the paper selects depictions of three hotspot countries of the non-West (i.e. China, Iran and South Africa), as framed in Euro-American media content. A qualitative thematic analysis, conducted through the lens of Entman’s framing theory, reveals three major themes: (a) racialized language linking the virus to a certain race and their exotic eating habits; (b) criticizing the “their barbaric draconian” curbing measures to question the state’s legitimacy; (c) Lack of transparency, widespread mistrust and incapability of the non-West in finding effective vaccines.

Keywords:

Covid , framing , othering , racialization , social media