Constructing the Pandemic in Pakistan

Inayat Ali is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Fatima Jinnah Women University (FJWU), Rawalpindi, Pakistan. He also serves as Adjunct Professor, Department of Community Medicine, Shifa Tameer-e-Milat University, Islamabad, Pakistan and a Research Fellow in the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Vienna, Austria. And he served as Founding Incharge of the Department of Public Health & Allied Sciences, FJWU, Rawalpindi, Pakistan.

• Acknowledgements Preface Introduction Inayat Ali 1. Remasking Structured Disparities: A Tale of Fate, New Untouchables, Unequal Effects, and the "Viral Coup" Inayat Ali 2. Rituals of Containment: Many Pandemics, Body Politics, and Social Dramas during COVID-19 in Pakistan Inayat Ali 3. New Virus, Old Narratives: Contextualizing Rumors, Conspiracy Theories, and Fear Inayat Ali 4. Maternal Health and Systematic Disparities: Multiple Impacts of the Pandemic on Mothers Inayat Ali, Salma Sadique and Shahbaz Ali 5. Birthing Between the “Traditional” and the “Modern”: Dāi Practices and Childbearing Women’s Choices during COVID-19 in Pakistan Inayat Ali, Salma Saddique, Shahbaz Ali, and Robbie Davis-Floyd 6. Between Responsibility and Risk: Experiences, Perceptions, Fears, and Responsibilities of Frontline Healthcare Providers Dealing with COVID-19 Inayat Ali, Salma Saddique and Shahbaz Ali 7. Experiencing and Surviving a Pandemic: Live Experiences of COVID-19 Survivors from Pakistan Inayat Ali, Salma Sadique, Shahbaz Ali and Sania Zehra 8. COVID-19 and vaccination campaigns as “Western plots” in Pakistan: Government policies, (geo-)politics and local perceptions and beliefs Inayat Ali, Shahbaz Ali, and Salma Sadique 9. COVID-19 Child Vaccination in Pakistan: Exploring Factors Affecting Parental Choices Inayat Ali, Nida Gulshan Nawaz, and Sania Zahra 10. COVID-19, Multiple Emergencies, and Moral Entanglements: Extraordinary and Transcendental Moral Worlds as a New Way Forward Inayat Ali Conclusions Inayat Ali. Index

"This fascinating book, based on detailed anthropological research and informed by cultural theory, shines a light on of the COVID-19 pandemic as it has unfolded in Pakistan. It demonstrates how lived experiences are refracted through cultural norms and the specific socioeconomic and political contexts of each nation and region."- Professor Deborah Lupton, Centre for Social Research in Health, University of New South Wales (UNSW) Sydney“This excellent book offers timely and deep insights into the experience of how a deeply ideologically divided nation understood and dealt with the pandemic. Constructing the Pandemic in Pakistan is a convincing call to action, advocating for evidence-based, inclusive, and equitable responses to public health crises worldwide.”- Dr. Sadiq Bhanbhro, Senior Research Fellow, Sheffield Hallam University, UK“On the basis of first class ethnography Inayat Ali provides the reader with a vivid picture of the dynamics of the infection, the myths and narratives surrounding it, the governmental responses and the subsequent vaccination programs. His analysis involves a wide range of theoretical insights and includes important debates that have not been covered in the research on COVID-19 so far. An important book for both anthropologists as well as practitioners and anyone interested in South Asian studies.”- Professor Gabriele Alex, University of Tübingen, Germany