The culturalization of Disease: A cultural analysis of the discourse on civic mindedness, health inequity, and ethnicity during the COVID-19 pandemic in Denmark
(2021) TKAM02 20211Division of Ethnology
- Abstract (Danish)
- I dette speciale analyserer jeg de overordnede medienarrativer omkring COVID-19-pandemien og ikke-vestlige etniske minoriteter i Danmark. Få måneder efter pandemiens udbrud i Danmark påviste Statens Serum Institut, at borgere med ikke-vestlig baggrund er overrepræsenteret blandt de COVID-19-smittede. I sommeren 2020 kom der for alvor fokus på COVID-19 og etniske minoriteter efter et stort smitteudbrud blandt det somaliske mindretal i Århus. Det startede en debat, der fortsatte ind i 2021, om de bagvedliggende årsager til smitten. I specialet peger jeg på to dominerende narrativer i medierne: på den ene side står dem, der forbinder smitten blandt ikke-vestlige etniske minoriteter med mangel på samfundssind, hvilket igen anses at bero på... (More)
- I dette speciale analyserer jeg de overordnede medienarrativer omkring COVID-19-pandemien og ikke-vestlige etniske minoriteter i Danmark. Få måneder efter pandemiens udbrud i Danmark påviste Statens Serum Institut, at borgere med ikke-vestlig baggrund er overrepræsenteret blandt de COVID-19-smittede. I sommeren 2020 kom der for alvor fokus på COVID-19 og etniske minoriteter efter et stort smitteudbrud blandt det somaliske mindretal i Århus. Det startede en debat, der fortsatte ind i 2021, om de bagvedliggende årsager til smitten. I specialet peger jeg på to dominerende narrativer i medierne: på den ene side står dem, der forbinder smitten blandt ikke-vestlige etniske minoriteter med mangel på samfundssind, hvilket igen anses at bero på minoritetsborgernes kultur eller mangel på vilje til at integrere sig i Danmark. Andre aktører påpeger socioøkonomiske faktorer, som bolig- og arbejdsvilkår eller mangel på tilstrækkelig information, som årsager til det højere incidenstal blandt borgere med ikke-vestlig baggrund. I specialet trækker jeg på Deborah Luptons konceptualisering af sygdom som et individuelt ansvar for at vise, hvordan de forskellige aktører fokuserer på skyld, skam og ansvar og dermed skaber et billede af pandemiens helte og skurke. Medierne har været med til at sætte fokus på problemet med etnisk ulighed i sundhed i Danmark, men har samtidig fungeret som en platform for de aktører, der opstiller modsætninger mellem de ansvarlige danskere og de etniske minoriteter, der mangler samfundssind, og dermed gør COVID-19-smitten blandt ikke-vestlige minoriteter til et spørgsmål om integration i stedet for ulighed i sundhed. (Less)
- Abstract
- This thesis analyses the media narratives of the COVID-19 pandemic and non-Western ethnic minorities in Denmark. Few months after the outbreak of the pandemic in Denmark, Statens Serum Institut (SSI), the national Danish agency for disease control and research, reported that persons with non-Western background were unproportionally affected by the disease. In the following media debate, there are two dominant narratives. On one hand, you have the actors who argue that non-Western ethnic minorities do not take responsibility for themselves and society, because they belong to a different culture or are simply not interested in integrating into the Danish society. On the other side stand those who point towards socioeconomic factors, such as... (More)
- This thesis analyses the media narratives of the COVID-19 pandemic and non-Western ethnic minorities in Denmark. Few months after the outbreak of the pandemic in Denmark, Statens Serum Institut (SSI), the national Danish agency for disease control and research, reported that persons with non-Western background were unproportionally affected by the disease. In the following media debate, there are two dominant narratives. On one hand, you have the actors who argue that non-Western ethnic minorities do not take responsibility for themselves and society, because they belong to a different culture or are simply not interested in integrating into the Danish society. On the other side stand those who point towards socioeconomic factors, such as housing and working conditions, or lack of appropriate information, as the reason for the high infection rate among people with non-Western background. I apply media content analysis and draw on Deborah Lupton’s conceptualization of illness as an individual responsibility to show how the different actors focus on guilt, accountability, responsibility, and blame, constructing the heroes and villains of the pandemic. While the media have brought forward the issue of ethnic health inequity in Denmark, they have also served as a platform for the actors who draw ethnic boundaries between the orderly and responsible Danes and the non-Western ethnic minorities who lack civic mindedness. These actors thus frame COVID-19 as an issue of integration instead of health inequity. (Less)
- Popular Abstract
- When the COVID-19 pandemic hit Denmark in 2020, it did not take long before non-Western ethnic minorities in the country received a vast amount of attention due to the unproportional spread of the virus among this group. Two dominant narratives emerged in media, each providing a different explanation: on one hand, you have the actors who argue that non-Western ethnic minorities do not take responsibility for themselves and society, because they belong to a different culture or are simply not interested in integrating into the Danish society. On the other side stand those who point towards socioeconomic factors, such as housing and working conditions, or lack of appropriate information, as the reason for the high infection rate among people... (More)
- When the COVID-19 pandemic hit Denmark in 2020, it did not take long before non-Western ethnic minorities in the country received a vast amount of attention due to the unproportional spread of the virus among this group. Two dominant narratives emerged in media, each providing a different explanation: on one hand, you have the actors who argue that non-Western ethnic minorities do not take responsibility for themselves and society, because they belong to a different culture or are simply not interested in integrating into the Danish society. On the other side stand those who point towards socioeconomic factors, such as housing and working conditions, or lack of appropriate information, as the reason for the high infection rate among people with non-Western background. In this thesis, I analyse the two media narratives to show how the media simultaneously brought forward the issue of ethnic health inequity in Denmark, but at the same time provided a platform for the actors who explain COVID-19 among minority groups with "immigrant culture" and lack of civic mindedness. These actors thus frame COVID-19 as an issue of integration instead of health inequity. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9066243
- author
- Løjmand, Ida Scharla LU
- supervisor
-
- Rachel Irwin LU
- organization
- course
- TKAM02 20211
- year
- 2021
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- ethnicity, minorities, culture, civic mindedness, health inequity, COVID-19, Denmark
- language
- English
- id
- 9066243
- date added to LUP
- 2021-09-29 21:48:59
- date last changed
- 2021-09-29 21:48:59
@misc{9066243,
abstract = {{This thesis analyses the media narratives of the COVID-19 pandemic and non-Western ethnic minorities in Denmark. Few months after the outbreak of the pandemic in Denmark, Statens Serum Institut (SSI), the national Danish agency for disease control and research, reported that persons with non-Western background were unproportionally affected by the disease. In the following media debate, there are two dominant narratives. On one hand, you have the actors who argue that non-Western ethnic minorities do not take responsibility for themselves and society, because they belong to a different culture or are simply not interested in integrating into the Danish society. On the other side stand those who point towards socioeconomic factors, such as housing and working conditions, or lack of appropriate information, as the reason for the high infection rate among people with non-Western background. I apply media content analysis and draw on Deborah Lupton’s conceptualization of illness as an individual responsibility to show how the different actors focus on guilt, accountability, responsibility, and blame, constructing the heroes and villains of the pandemic. While the media have brought forward the issue of ethnic health inequity in Denmark, they have also served as a platform for the actors who draw ethnic boundaries between the orderly and responsible Danes and the non-Western ethnic minorities who lack civic mindedness. These actors thus frame COVID-19 as an issue of integration instead of health inequity.}},
author = {{Løjmand, Ida Scharla}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{The culturalization of Disease: A cultural analysis of the discourse on civic mindedness, health inequity, and ethnicity during the COVID-19 pandemic in Denmark}},
year = {{2021}},
}