Research paper: Whose Crisis? COVID-19 Explored through Arts and Cultural Practices of African Communities

Research Report and Data Access

We are excited to have been published in the Journal of Open Humanities Data in their special collection of Humanities Data in the time of COVID-19. The article is openly accessible to all.

Read the article now

Abstract

The “Whose Crisis?” project is in response to a continually evolving global health pandemic, COVID-19. In this context, the dominant discourses have been generated in the Global North, overwhelmingly by a minority of wealthy and powerful authors, reflecting narrowly on a crisis that, while impacting the whole world, is experienced in vastly different ways. This article frames and contextualises data from this project through an introduction to the background, contexts, and methods of a project designed to reflect the lived experiences of, perspectives on, and responses to COVID-19 in vulnerable communities across sub-Saharan Africa. The project has been carried out by a large team of collaborators who prioritise the lived experiences, customs, and needs of the communities engaged through a culturally responsive and arts-based research approach. The article points to the methodological implications of arts-based research to explore plural perspectives in participatory ways, and the socio-political possibilities of amplifying the voices of under-represented and under-served communities in Africa, in terms of global health in a pandemic context.

How to Cite: Perry, M., Armstrong, D.M., Chinkonda, B.E., Kagolobya, R., Lekoko, R.N. and Ajibade, G.O., 2021. Whose Crisis? COVID-19 Explored through Arts and Cultural Practices of African Communities. Journal of Open Humanities Data, 7, p.29. DOI: http://doi.org/10.5334/johd.52

"The pandemic has brought into focus the complexity and interrelatedness of physical and mental well-being with cultural and societal structures. It has highlighted the need for responses that can bridge this complexity, that reflect on the global diversity of human experience, and provide a more balanced understanding of the COVID-19 pandemic."

Research Report and Data Access

We are excited to have been published in the Journal of Open Humanities Data in their special collection of Humanities Data in the time of COVID-19. The article is openly accessible to all.

Read the article now

Abstract

The “Whose Crisis?” project is in response to a continually evolving global health pandemic, COVID-19. In this context, the dominant discourses have been generated in the Global North, overwhelmingly by a minority of wealthy and powerful authors, reflecting narrowly on a crisis that, while impacting the whole world, is experienced in vastly different ways. This article frames and contextualises data from this project through an introduction to the background, contexts, and methods of a project designed to reflect the lived experiences of, perspectives on, and responses to COVID-19 in vulnerable communities across sub-Saharan Africa. The project has been carried out by a large team of collaborators who prioritise the lived experiences, customs, and needs of the communities engaged through a culturally responsive and arts-based research approach. The article points to the methodological implications of arts-based research to explore plural perspectives in participatory ways, and the socio-political possibilities of amplifying the voices of under-represented and under-served communities in Africa, in terms of global health in a pandemic context.

How to Cite: Perry, M., Armstrong, D.M., Chinkonda, B.E., Kagolobya, R., Lekoko, R.N. and Ajibade, G.O., 2021. Whose Crisis? COVID-19 Explored through Arts and Cultural Practices of African Communities. Journal of Open Humanities Data, 7, p.29. DOI: http://doi.org/10.5334/johd.52

"The pandemic has brought into focus the complexity and interrelatedness of physical and mental well-being with cultural and societal structures. It has highlighted the need for responses that can bridge this complexity, that reflect on the global diversity of human experience, and provide a more balanced understanding of the COVID-19 pandemic."

by sfawv