Race and the spatialisation of risk during the 2013–2016 West African Ebola epidemic

Lioba A. Hirsch

doi:10.1016/j.healthplace.2020.102499

Race and the spatialisation of risk during the 2013–2016 West African Ebola epidemic

Lioba A. Hirsch

School of Social and Political Science

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

This paper examines the spatial navigation of risk by international health responders working in Ebola Treatment Centres (ETCs) during the West African Ebola epidemic. Drawing on Black studies and geographies it argues for a race-conscious analysis of spatial strategies of risk aversion in order to highlight the geographical, postcolonial and racial inequalities at the heart of the West African Ebola response. Based on interviews with international health responders to Liberia and Sierra Leone, it argues that the spatial organisation of ETCs perpetuated non-equivalence between Black and white lives and contributed to the normalisation of Black suffering and death.

Original language	English
Article number	102499
Journal	Health and Place
Volume	67
Early online date	26 Dec 2020
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2020.102499
Publication status	Published - Jan 2021

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10.1016/j.healthplace.2020.102499

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title = "Race and the spatialisation of risk during the 2013–2016 West African Ebola epidemic",

abstract = "This paper examines the spatial navigation of risk by international health responders working in Ebola Treatment Centres (ETCs) during the West African Ebola epidemic. Drawing on Black studies and geographies it argues for a race-conscious analysis of spatial strategies of risk aversion in order to highlight the geographical, postcolonial and racial inequalities at the heart of the West African Ebola response. Based on interviews with international health responders to Liberia and Sierra Leone, it argues that the spatial organisation of ETCs perpetuated non-equivalence between Black and white lives and contributed to the normalisation of Black suffering and death.",

author = "Hirsch, {Lioba A.}",

note = "Funding Information: This research was made possible through a Heinrich-B{\"o}ll Foundation PhD scholarship ( P121536 ) and a UCL cross-disciplinary scholarship ( X3W1RGWT9 ).I would also like to thank the anonymous reviewers for strengthening the presentation and argument of this paper. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2020 Elsevier Ltd",

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N2 - This paper examines the spatial navigation of risk by international health responders working in Ebola Treatment Centres (ETCs) during the West African Ebola epidemic. Drawing on Black studies and geographies it argues for a race-conscious analysis of spatial strategies of risk aversion in order to highlight the geographical, postcolonial and racial inequalities at the heart of the West African Ebola response. Based on interviews with international health responders to Liberia and Sierra Leone, it argues that the spatial organisation of ETCs perpetuated non-equivalence between Black and white lives and contributed to the normalisation of Black suffering and death.

AB - This paper examines the spatial navigation of risk by international health responders working in Ebola Treatment Centres (ETCs) during the West African Ebola epidemic. Drawing on Black studies and geographies it argues for a race-conscious analysis of spatial strategies of risk aversion in order to highlight the geographical, postcolonial and racial inequalities at the heart of the West African Ebola response. Based on interviews with international health responders to Liberia and Sierra Leone, it argues that the spatial organisation of ETCs perpetuated non-equivalence between Black and white lives and contributed to the normalisation of Black suffering and death.

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Race and the spatialisation of risk during the 2013–2016 West African Ebola epidemic

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