Comparative Insights on Masking (or not) in Coping with Covid-19

Customary Tuareg Covering in Niger, Controversial Covering in the United States, and Their Broader Implications for Theories of Danger, Pollution, and Contagion

Authors

  • Susan Rasmussen

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14712/12128112.3960

Keywords:

COVID-19, Tuareg, Africa, United States, pollution, symbolism, politics

Abstract

This article explores attitudes and practices regarding covering in comparative perspective, focusing on the mask and masking and their promotion in two very different cultural settings that nonetheless also share some broad similarities: Niger, with particular emphasis on the Tuareg case and the mediating roles of smith/artisans in dissemination of cultural knowledge and health education, and the United States, with particular emphasis on as mediators and Texas in these processes. There is analysis of the cultural-symbolic and socio-political re-workings of meanings and uses of masking in relation to these settings’ prevalent, widely-held mores concerning facial covering and their wider significance for understanding theories of danger, pollution, and contagion in anthropology.

Author Biography

Susan Rasmussen

Professor of Anthropology within the Department of Comparative Cultural Studies at the University of Houston, has conducted field research in rural and urban Tuareg communities of Niger and Mali and among African immigrants in France. Her interests include religion, healing specialists, gender, the life course, verbal arts, cultural memory, and the connections between symbolism and power. She has numerous publications on these topics,including six books: Spirit Possession and Personhood among the Kel Ewey Tuareg; The Poetics and Politics of Tuareg Aging; Healing in Community; Those Who Touch: Tuareg Medicine Women in Anthropological Perspective; Neighbors, Strangers, Witches, and Culture Heroes; and Persons of Courage and Renown. In progress are works on verbal art performance, healthcare, migrations, and intergenerational relationships in Tuareg communities and conversion among diasporic Africans in France.

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Published

2023-09-01

How to Cite

Rasmussen, S. (2023). Comparative Insights on Masking (or not) in Coping with Covid-19: Customary Tuareg Covering in Niger, Controversial Covering in the United States, and Their Broader Implications for Theories of Danger, Pollution, and Contagion. Lidé města, 25(2), 139-170. https://doi.org/10.14712/12128112.3960

Issue

Vol. 25 No. 2 (2023)

Section

Articles

License

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.