Caste and class in the time of coronavirus
We might be in the midst of an unprecedented crisis, and if European figures of coronavirus are anything to go by, there is much to be alarmed about. Not so long ago, Joshua Lederberg, Nobel laureate for medicine, coined the phrase, “emerging and re-emerging diseases”, to contend that the world was now in a phase in which vulnerability to epidemics — AIDS, Ebola, cholera, plague, TB, dengue — was greater than it had ever been.
Historians of medicine like Professor Frank M. Snowden, Yale University, continue to argue that diseases make manifest as well as thrive on the faultlines created by demography, poverty, environmental degradation, warfare, mass transport and societal oversight. New vulnerabilities, he argues, rather than being accidental, are a plausible result of the kind of social that we inhabit.
Medical and public health scholars agree that demography, substandard housing, poverty, inequality, inadequate access to health care, lack of education are all determinants of epidemic disease.
With respect to infectious diseases, scholars like Snowden argue, it is women who bear a disproportionate burden because of susceptibility to infections, care work, feminisation of poverty and unemployment. Precautionary measures like “social distancing” or even the symbolic “Janata curfew” have to notions of contagion and pollution intersect. What I offer here are two vignettes from ongoing research on labouring and surveillance in gated communities.
For my informant, Nafisa, the last week has seen interruption in her daily work. In three out of five houses she works in, she has been asked to come bi-weekly. Her employers fear that she might be contagious but their fears of contagion has not led them to take on the responsibility of doing domestic chores on their own.
To Nafisa’s utter horror, when she went to do dishes at one of the homes she works at, not only had the dishes not been done for three days at a stretch, the kitchen stank and there were cockroaches in the dirty utensils. She said to me, “They think I will bring disease, I felt like they would make me sick. These people think that we are dirty, but I will tell you that most of these people are filthy.”
At another house, where she went as a temporary worker to do the dishes, the dishes had again not been done for two-three days. Here, the lady of the house refused to pay her more than the stipulated Rs 50, which is the payment for one day’s work. Nafisa was asked to sanitise the house in a backward movement as she exited the house.
For another informant, Khadija, the only work that two of her employers have made her do this week is cleaning of the toilets and bathrooms. In the middle class understanding of contagion, a potentially contagious person — the domestic help — cannot contaminate the toilet, the hotbed of bacteria, and the toilet is not pestilential for an already noxious body.
When we do begin to study how social distancing worked in the context of coronavirus at a later stage, we would have to take on the burden of explicating that sociality (and proximity) is restricted not just to gyms, malls, cinema complexes, public transport, schools, universities, museums, restaurants, sporting and religious events, airports, trains, wedding ceremonies, parties, hugging, shaking hands and bars.
Epidemic control measures, individual or collective, can attach themselves to existing social hierarchies, making some bodies carry a disproportionate responsibility for the spread of contagion. In the context of coronavirus, social distancing cannot mitigate the effects sub-optimal healthcare facilities, housing and city planning which makes it a class privilege.
For the Indian middle class, meanwhile, the ethic and care of the self that social distancing requires does not include taking responsibility for their own household chores. Can this moment be taken advantage of to address and re-organise the gendered division of labour that exists in households and families?
Pooja Satyogi teaches at the School of Law, Governance and Citizenship, Ambedkar University, Delhi. Her areas of research include policing, security studies, feminism, cultural anthropology and South Asian politics.
The number of coronavirus cases is rising even after the closure of schools, colleges and places. It is creating panic among people, especially students and their parents. Maximum measures must be taken to contain the virus now or we may face the situation in which Italy and Iran find themselves in right now. Given the populous Indian cities, the virus can spread easily. Therefore, reopening of schools and colleges must be postponed till the situation is under control. Thangella Shreya
Hyderabad
There seems to be a strong link between coronavirus and dietary habits of the Chinese people. With human intestines more suitable for vegetarian and fully cooked food, it is time the whole world unite to know the true cause of the virus. The Chinese government should take precautions after creating such a deadly virus that has derailed the economy world over. Lalitha Sagarika
Hyderabad
When coronavirus cases subside, the economic crisis that followed will be blamed on the infection and many of us will happily lap it up. C.S. Farouqui
Hyderabad
Thousands of people are losing their their lives daily due to coronavirus. Though the number of affected cases is less when compared to other countries, we must be vigilant. When the government is spreading awareness, there are some who are spreading panic as if the end of the world has come. Government should take severe action against them. The crucial thing is to remember that overpowering this pandemic is not the responsibility of government alone. Everyone has a duty.
K. Manoj Kumar
Hyderabad
The female domestic help's work has not only been impacted by social distancing but her experience of being distanced for reasons of contagion ties into existing caste practices of social distancing