Classic Anthropological Theories to Help Understand Caregiving and Dying during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

the COVID-19 global pandemic engendered a new social order, the ultimate shape and permanence of which is still unknown. What is known is that in the short term, experiences of caregiving and dying were profoundly reshaped in reaction to this new contagious threat and the effects of that reshaping are still being felt. though these changes have been unprecedented, foundational anthropology theories continue to have relevance and can aid understanding. Our own expertise is in researching and theorizing how societies organize death and dying — their “death systems” 1 — and the cultural beliefs that emerge to make sense of people’s experiences. Here, we summarize some classic anthropological theories that can contribute to our understanding of how dying, and caring for the dying, was affected during this pandemic. even after the global rollout of vaccines, leading to a decrease in COVID-19-related mortality, we continued to see different countries struggle with how best to care for those with the disease, how to “count” those who died and how to minimize risk through regulating the movement of bodies locally and internationally. We believe that a postpandemic world will continue to contain similar or novel infectious disease outbreaks, either regionally or globally, and that the classic theories we outline here can help us to navigate the future terrain of end-of-life care in the Global North.