How do authoritarian governments use mass media to shape public opinion during times of crisis? We propose to study agenda-setting and propaganda in Russia’s most-watched news source, the state-owned Channel 1 television station, to investigate how information about a deadly health crisis—the Covid-19 pandemic—is covered by state media. This project uses text analysis and machine …
The Covid-19 pandemic has been described as the greatest challenge we have faced since World War Two (UNDP, 2020), with detrimental effects on global healthcare systems and human life. This has resulted in several effects including high morbidity, gender-based violence, and limited access to basic social services, requiring urgent multisectoral efforts through established social structures …
“Student aid capped as demand soars,” “International students facing long queues at foodbanks,” “Sydney doctor reports cases of scurvy among students.” A brief survey of Australian newspapers points to an alarming rise of food insecurity among university students in Australia, especially international students. The large number of casual job losses due to Covid-19 has meant …
Food Insecurity among International Students Within and Beyond Victoria, Australia Read More »
The main aim of this project is to investigate and gain insight, through a six-month study, the disruptions and opportunities to everyday mainstream news production wrought by the global outbreak of Covid-19 in three selected countries—South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Botswana. In the history of newsroom evolution, every disruption brought to the journalism profession has conversely …
The research aims to map and analyze the role of religious ideas, practices, and institutions in responding to the Covid-19 pandemic in Brazil, focusing on the speeches produced by Christian religious leaders in the mass media and social networks, in addition to the use of public TV for political and religious proselytism. The research is …
Christian Churches, Religious Media, and the Management of Covid-19 in Brazil Read More »
The Covid-19 pandemic presents not just a global health crisis but also a major disruption to economic and social life. While workers on precarious contracts and those in the informal and gig economy have experienced heightened insecurity for the future of their jobs, during the pandemic many low-paid jobs have a shift of status from …
This project explores the convergence of right-wing hate speech and panic around the Covid-19 pandemic in India. In particular, I study the Islamophobic reactions to the Covid-19 crisis in India, where the pandemic has exacerbated the right-wing rhetoric against Muslims through fake news circulating over social media platforms. Many viral videos and images have unfairly …
Hate in the Time of the Virus: Covid-19, Fake News, and Islamophobia in India Read More »
Covid-19’s impact on the incarcerated population is a pressing humanitarian issue. Inmates are disproportionately more likely to be afflicted by the disease, and large percentages of inmates have tested positive. In response, advocates have encouraged people to reach out to elected officials and call for the release of non-violent and/or at-risk offenders. Whether this call …
Mobilizing for the Release of Inmates in a Pandemic Read More »
Individuals with chronic illnesses or disabilities, as well as those over the age of 65, occupy the highest risk categories for contracting and dying from Covid-19. This project focuses on these invisible frontlines of care: the millions of chronically ill and/or elderly Americans who are not institutionalized and instead receiving care at home from family …
Left in the Care of One: Spousal Caregiving in the Age of Covid-19 Read More »
Public health messaging during the Covid-19 pandemic has emphasized protecting oneself and family members by avoiding, isolating, and distancing. Among forward castes in India, such messaging has offered a veneer of modern reasoning for historical discrimination premised on “touch avoidance” caste practices—directed this time towards the Muslim. Prejudice against the Muslim and the anxiety about …
The Threat of Touch: Othering Bodies During the Covid-19 Pandemic Read More »
