{"title":"The Reconfiguration of Stigma: (Mis)understanding the COVID-19 Infection and Contagion in Rural Central China.","authors":"Siyi Chen","doi":"10.1080/01459740.2025.2475927","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Based on an ethnography of a Chinese village, this article examines the re-stigmatization of recovered COVID-19 patients in China's COVID-19 response between 2020 and 2022. I show that distrust in the local government was reactivated in epidemic governance and led to the production of localized knowledge as a proactive response to official knowledge, which prompted stigma driven by health concerns. As the epidemic governance intensified alongside viral mutations, the stigma was reconfigured into a broader threat to livelihoods. This research indicates stigmatization is a complex and nuanced process shaped by the interplay between epidemic governance and local social dynamics.</p>","PeriodicalId":47460,"journal":{"name":"Medical Anthropology","volume":" ","pages":"1-14"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5000,"publicationDate":"2025-03-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Medical Anthropology","FirstCategoryId":"90","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/01459740.2025.2475927","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"ANTHROPOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Based on an ethnography of a Chinese village, this article examines the re-stigmatization of recovered COVID-19 patients in China's COVID-19 response between 2020 and 2022. I show that distrust in the local government was reactivated in epidemic governance and led to the production of localized knowledge as a proactive response to official knowledge, which prompted stigma driven by health concerns. As the epidemic governance intensified alongside viral mutations, the stigma was reconfigured into a broader threat to livelihoods. This research indicates stigmatization is a complex and nuanced process shaped by the interplay between epidemic governance and local social dynamics.
期刊介绍:
Medical Anthropology provides a global forum for scholarly articles on the social patterns of ill-health and disease transmission, and experiences of and knowledge about health, illness and wellbeing. These include the nature, organization and movement of peoples, technologies and treatments, and how inequalities pattern access to these. Articles published in the journal showcase the theoretical sophistication, methodological soundness and ethnographic richness of contemporary medical anthropology. Through the publication of empirical articles and editorials, we encourage our authors and readers to engage critically with the key debates of our time. Medical Anthropology invites manuscripts on a wide range of topics, reflecting the diversity and the expanding interests and concerns of researchers in the field.