Middle East Covid-19 Pandemic Situation : Research Paper

Covid-19 Pandemic Research Paper

Paper Title:	Middle East Covid-19 Pandemic Situation
Pages:	8 Pages (2000 words)
Academic level:	University
Discipline:
Paper Format:	MLA
Sources:	5

Requirements

Fieldwork Paper Suggested Topics List, 2021

1. Nationalism and the Middle East
a. Consulting social media posts, TV shows, or other popular culture artifacts of your choice, how has the Middle East been represented when it comes to strategies and policies of handling COVID-19?(Guiding questions: Is the Middle East’s ways of handling the pandemic seen as backward? Inefficient? Insufficient? Make your claims based on the artifacts you use)
b. Pick a number of national/international news venues (newspaper, website, etc.) and explore how has Egypt, or any other Middle Eastern country of your choice, been handling the pandemic as compared to “Western” countries? Are any references to Western superiority being made or constructed in light of the pandemic? (Guiding reading/concept: Orientalism)
c. Pick a cultural artifact (film, tv series, music video clip, novel, tv ad, etc) that depicts Bedouins in Egypt or other countries in the Arab world. How is their identity as Bedouins depicted and negotiated with the presumed wider national identity? How are they shown to be different than other citizens? How are they shown to be similar? Can you contextualize this depiction in terms of wider narratives around the nation, Arabness, and citizenship?

2. I dentity and Imagined Communities
a. Interview a number of your nuclear & extended family members on the relevance of categories such as family, nation, and generation in the pandemic. How do your interviewees regard the role of the family and the nation in facing and responding to the pandemic? What is the importance of family here as a unit of analysis?

3. Modernity
a. Relying on social media posts (esp celebrities/influencers accounts), what appeals to modernity are circulating now in light of the pandemic? (Guiding questions: How are “modern states” defined? What policies do they follow? Which countries are regarded as “modern” in dealing with the pandemic? How so?)
b. Interview a number of your family members and/or friends (virtually) and explore the modern and/or nonmodern ways of handling and surviving COVID-19. What are “modern” precautions, if any, and what are “nonmodern” precautions or groups if any? (Guiding questions: How do your interviewees regard the increasing viral posts on ginger drinks and other Do-It-Yourself immunity boosters believed to face the pandemic? Are these modes “modern”? Why/why not?)
c. With the onset of the pandemic lockdown, there has been a sharp increase in online shopping, and a plethora of memes to document that increase. How have your, and your household’s, shopping habits changed because of the pandemic? What things have you been buying? For what end? How is the experience different from in person shopping? What does it illuminate about the market? What does it obfuscate? Do you know more, or less about the products? The producers? The merchants? Your fellow consumers? What feelings are associated with your virtual retail? What narratives are circulated within your household around it? Is it seen as wasteful, therapeutic, savvy, etc? Can you locate your buying patterns and your and your family’s discourse around them within a wider context around the economy, entrepreneurship, consumer culture, modernity, and class? (Guiding reading/concept: Neoliberalism)

4. Social cleavages
a. How has COVID-19 exposed social differences, cleavages, and inequalities between a variety of social groups? Consult social media, TV shows, newspapers, etc. to back up your claims (Guiding questions: Exploring some of the customized/fancy face masks, how do these highlight class and social differences in the Arab World? Can everyone afford to quarantine or stay at home? How is this “decision” affected by one’s social and economic position such as occupation etc.?)
b. As a member of an extended family yourself, craft a family history/biography of your own nuclear or extended family as traversing a social class hierarchy; in the span of the previous 20-30 years, how has your family’s class position changed? Why? How? Use interviews,letters, and photographs to back up your claims.

5. Zones of Conflict
a. Using online web sources, explore how the pandemic affected, aggravated, or worsened conflict in Palestine/Israel. How are services, access to healthcare, and medical care availability been affected by the Palestine/Israeli conflict? (Guiding sources: Check online news websites and blogs narrating COVID-19 experiences and struggles in Palestine)
b. Consulting social media posts, viral memes, and shared content, how has COVID-19 been used to represent Israeli’s struggles with the pandemic? How are these jokes political, if at all? What do these memes and jokes tell us about Arab-Israeli conflict?

6. Political Economy
a. QUITE ADVANCED - Relying on media discussions, viral news, and latest updates, analyze COVID-19 from a political economic lens as learnt through readings and class discussions (analyze objects, vaccines, healthcare economies, etc.)

7. Secularism
a. Interview a number of family members on their views on the “causes of COVID-19”, particularly from a religious perspective (Guiding questions: Is COVID-19 ever seen as a “punishment from God”? If so, why? Who are the guilty sinners? Is it at all of us? Which groups are seen as guilty?)

8. Youth
a. Identify an age group that you regard as “youth” and interview some of them. How are their ways of handling the pandemic different from their parents’ and grandparents’ if at all? If so, where do these differences come from?
b. Interview a number of your family members (parents and grandparents generation) and explore the ways in which they might hold youth accountable for rising numbers and aggravating cases of COVID-19 in your Arab country of choice. Why are youths sometimes held guilty? What is it about their behavior that is threatening to the pandemic? What are the reasons for that?

9. Conflict and Violence
a. Using online social media posts and news updates, but also potentially interpersonal relations, explore forms of domestic violence that might have been aggravated during or as a result of the pandemic. (Guiding
questions: As a result of the pandemic, are we witnessing more reporting, documenting, or narrating of domestic violence? Where are the stories posted and why has the pandemic push them to higher rates if at all?)

10. Diasporas
a. Interview members of a diasporic community of choice (of extended family, friends, friends of friends, etc.) and explore how they compare and contrast between both countries/nations/people, and how do external forces such as COVID-19 play a role in their everyday experience? (Guiding questions: How are diasporic communities experiencing being away from their homelands? Are they nostalgic? Angry? Relieved? Offered better services? How are they identifying themselves when it comes to both countries?)
b. Using online material (news, social media posts, etc.), explore patterns of discrimination towards particular groups (i.e. Asians) that have flourished since the beginning of the pandemic. (Guiding questions: how has discrimination been visible or made more visible during the pandemic? Where can we witness or see this dicrimination? Will this ever change or cease to exist?)
c. Do you follow one of the ‘diaspora vloggers’, online content creators of various Middle Eastern Diasporas around the world who have mass followings in their countries of origin? (Perhaps you tune in to the

Egyptian cooking guru who lives in America, or the relatable lifestyle vlogger/ makeup artist who lives in Vienna). Pick one of these creators and analyse their content, and their audience’s interactions? How did you, or someone you know, come to follow them? What do you like about their content? How does their displacement play into that? What do they talk about? How do they present themselves? Is the fact of their displacement a major part of their brand, or do they go out of their way to assert their Arabness, or authenticity, despite it? How does this play into how they appeal to local audiences? Can you place their content, and their rising popularity, in larger discourses around displacement, diasporas, nationalism, identity, and modernity?

11. Refugees
a. Following news, online or offline, explore changing and aggravating conditions of various refugee groups in Egypt in light of COVID-19: How are they discriminated against and what forms of suffering have they been facing in those last few months?
b. Interview members of your own household (i.e. household helpers, drivers, etc.) who are refugees of a different country. How did they move to Egypt? What sort of mediating parties (company, host, etc.) play the role of mediating between both countries? How do your interlocutors experience the everyday of being in a foreign country altogether?

12. Religion
a. Interview *close* members of your own social circles (friends, extended family, colleagues) regarding changing religiosity practices and patterns with the advent of COVID-19: Have any practices changed, grown, or discarded? How is religiosity defined now? How does it play out in everyday attire, shared social media posts, etc.?
b. Trace your, or a member of your household’s, relationship with religious spaces (mosques, churches, shrines, temples, etc). What have these spaces meant for you? How has your relationship with these spaces evolved over time, or as you changed residences or places of worship? Do you think your gender has influenced how you can interact with them/ how you feel about them? If so, how? How about age or social class?
Alternatively, or in addition, pick a cultural artifact (film, tv series, ad, song, vlog, etc) that depicts religious space(s). How is the space being depicted? To what end? What feelings/ ideas should we associate with that space (ex: oppression, salvation, comfort)? How does this portrayal fit into wider discourses on religion in the region?

13. Urbanism
a. In light of COVID-19, explore policies and activities of gated compounds in Egypt or elsewhere in the Arab World used to “entertain” or keep safe their inhabitants. Examples would include bazaars, bake sales, and other conventions taking place inside compounds during lockdown.(Guiding questions: How has quarantine been implemented in some gated compounds in Egypt? How was the “stay at home” routine supported by some gated compounds through activities and conventions)?
b. Interview a number of your family members on their lockdown practices and routines as affected by where they live: How would lockdown be different had they been elsewhere in Egypt/Arab World?
c. Using your own life history, explore the history of your own homes; have you been living in the same house ever since your parents were married? Did they move homes? If they did move, what changed? How did their relationship/perception of their surroundings change? Is your current home considered more or less “urban” than your former one?
d. Pick a cultural artifact of your choice (TV ad, TV series, film, etc.) that portrays an urban setting (i.e. gated community); how is this portrayed? What “dreams” or fantasies are promised in these artifacts? What definitions of nation and Egypt more broadly are constructed through these artifacts?

14. Rurality
a. Interview member/s of nuclear/extended family members whose origins stretch to a rural sphere. How do they relate to this part of the family/world? What stereotypes exist on “the rural”, broadly speaking, and why do you think they still exist?
b. Pick a cultural artifact of your choice (TV ad, TV series, film, etc.) that portrays a rural scene; how is this depicted? How are rural dwellers in particular depicted? Reflect on these patterns through the course readings and discussions.
c. Have you or a member of your household ever lived in a rural setting, or a ‘regional’ city/ town? If so, explore your/ their relationship to the urban centre (Cairo, and to an extent Alexandria, in the case of Egypt). What did it represent for you and your neighbours? In what contexts was it being evoked? What did visits to these places mean/ feel like? Where these centres viewed as aspirational? Dangerous? Something else altogether?
d. Pick members of your household who reside in an urban centre, but routinely journey to a rural area or regional town (to visit family, oversee business dealings, etc). How have their visits been affected by the current pandemic? Do they see differences in how they are received? Do they modify the precautions they take to deal with the pandemic when they travel (i.e: wearing/ taking off face masks, shaking hands, etc)?

15. Gender
a. Interview children of your own family; how do they perceive themselves as gendered beings? How does gender play out in their everyday spheres of socialization (i.e. schools, sports trainings, nurseries, family)?
b. In light of the recent disastrous case of serial harasser/rapist Ahmed Bassam Zaki, how are new gender dynamics, inequalities, but also hopeful social change when it comes to women’s rights?

18. Health and Wellbeing
a. Interview members of a particular nutritional lifestyle/diet (veganism, vegetarianism, keto-based diets, yogi); how did they “change” to these diets and why? How do they get hold of their nutritional foods? Why did they choose these nutritional systems? What values to they attach to these food preferences/systems/choices?

19.Law and Governance
a. Recently, there have been multiple legal cases closely tied to social media discourses like the arrests of social media figures like the ‘TikTok Girls’, or the serial harasser/ rapist. These cases have highlighted the state’s governing of online spaces. How has law enforcement policies and practices shifted in response to, and as an attempt to manage, social media discourses? What Examine, for example, the new practice of the Egyptian Prosecution in publishing statements re active cases online. How do these new developments rewrite discourse on law, the state, citizenship, transgressions, and modernity?

20. Family, Motherhood, and Fatherhood
a. As a result of the lockdown, how have family dynamics changed or been affected? Interview family members or include social media jokes, memes, and comics to back up your claims (Guiding questions: Are there any problematic relations that are coming to the surface? How has lockdown allow us to see various sides of our familial relations, given the length of time we are now forced to spend with our families? Is it always romantic bonding and quality time?)
b. With Egyptian laws recently criminalizing transgressions on ‘family values’, there has been contentious discourses on what exactly these values are. Relying on either online discourses, a cultural artifact (film, tv series, ad, song, etc), interviews with your own family members, or a combination of all three, examine what family values have come to mean in the current moment. How do these values come to be constructed? What function do they serve for the family? The state? The nation? Which sub cultures and perspectives in society are highlighted in these discourses? Which are ignored? How does popular culture come to shape these values? What happens when disagreements around these values arise within a single family? Examine how these reflect on wider conceptions on what a family means.

IMPORTANT NOTE:

In all these topics, what is required is a serious fieldwork-based research, rather than a short-term question-answer formatted paper. Your take on fieldwork now will be predominantly based online or trusted social circles (using virtual interviews). These interviews or online ethnographies need to always be coupled with reflexivity, positionality reflection, and all other serious components making up anthropological fieldwork. More guidance on the ethics and constituents of fieldwork will be provided soon.

Since this is a course on Arab and Middle Eastern societies, you are by all means encouraged to include all and other nationalities beyond Egyptians in your research. Whenever possible, feasible, or convenient, do extend your research beyond the strict confines of an Egyptian audience as the main interlocutors of your project.

Free Written Sample

Running Head: Middle Eastern Countries Amidst the Covid-19 Pandemic Situation

This assignment is based on the political conditions of Middle Eastern countries amidst the Covid-19 pandemic situation. Different aspects of media discussions and viral news are taken into consideration which will help in analyzing the political and economic conditions of the respective countries. Various objects, vaccines and healthcare economics are highlighted in this assignment. This assignment is based on various aspects of political turmoil that are present in Middle East during the Covi-19 situations. Both political and economic policies and respective modification of the same are focused on in this assignment. This assignment helps in analyzing the objects, vaccines and healthcare economies.
a. Political Economy
During the condition of Covid-19 the entire globe has changed its perception and there have been major changes in the manner individuals think (Thenationalnews.com, 2020). The long lasting lockdown has impacted the economic condition of the entire globe. In addition to that the decision making of all the different governments across the globe has been impacted by this. Considering the fact that Middle East is always under war and the lack of development has led to major issues that impact the health care industries of the countries in this region. The major issues in these countries are related to the political instability of the governments and lack of positive relation between different countries in the region.

Figure 1: Health expense in Middle East countries
Conditions of the Middle Eastern countries had been improving due to support of the FDI, however after the Covid-19 pandemic situation the same has been affected in an adverse manner the investment has reduced and that had impacted the entire economic condition of the countries (Thiry, Alexis, 2020). The political turmoil that is present in these countries reduce the possibility of modification in terms of development of the medical facilities., the healthcare economics are not positive and there is not much capital available for these countries to invest in the healthcare department. Middle Eastern regions have always been prone to war and conflicts and as a result of the same there are no possibilities of development. Hospital development and other medical facilities are not possible for these countries. Covid-19 pandemic situation has increased the complications further and now it is more difficult to cope up with the political issues and maintain the development of the health industries. The health economic policies of the governments are not concentrated upon by these companies due the conflicts that are addressed by them.
Analysis of Objects
Main objects that are needed to be followed by these countries have always been focused on the political stability and development of industries (Thenationalnews.com, 2020). This region is prone to constant wars and conflicts as a result of which they do not get the opportunity to focus on other aspects of development. One of the major positive aspects that came into light during the Covid-19 situation was that the average population of this region is below the age of 30 (Thenationalnews.com, 2020). Approximately 60% of the population is within the age of 30 and this is one of the major reason behind less people being affected and dying from this pandemic in this region (Thenationalnews.com, 2020).
One of the locations being Yemen was impacted in a worse manner due to exposure to constant war. This region has a lack of facilities and individuals reside in group homes. This has impacted this location in terms of Covid-19 pandemic as the virus could spread easily from one individual to another. In addition the lack of hospitals and medical institutions in the country also impacted the conditions to a worse situation. This region also has a lack of stability when it comes to the political stability as a result of which there is no strength and unity among the individuals.
Aden is another location in the South which is also prone to major political issues. There is no sense of unity and control in the Government as a result of which the Government is unable to control general population (Thiry, Alexis, 2020). Swarms of individuals are found to be flocking together while going to markets and mosques. This is risky in current situation and this shows the lack of government control on the people. The political situation of thee Middle Eastern countries are so poor that there is no scope for development in the upcoming years. To gain a proper developing scenario it is essential that the political structures of the countries are developed.
Multiple incidents of protests are committed on a daily basis in these nations. Population of these countries raises their voices and reflects their grievances against their Government on terms of corruption, cronyism and reform. The government is blamed for siphoning public money and not developing public services. There are no developments in terms of hospital construction or educational institutions. In Algeria, Lebanon and Iraq there has been long term political unrest which has led the protestors to force one president out of power. Two prime ministers have also been removed from power by such constant protests that are committed in these locations (Thiry, Alexis, 2020). There are records of protestors being shot dead and getting wounded to uphold their protests against the tyranny of their government. This gives a clear picture of the political condition of the Middle East. In terms of Covid-19 pandemic these protestors are being asked to remain in their homes as there is global lockdown. However there is no respect for the government as a result of which individuals are not abiding by their guidance and roaming the streets.
Analysis of Vaccines
It can be understood that there has been multiple fake promises made by the governments of these locations which has led to the individuals not trusting their representatives in power. In the past decade there have been four Civil Wars in Middle East. The entire location has been a red zone for constant war and conflicts. In such situation development is not possible or concentrated upon. Medical science of this location is not as strong as other parts of the world and Middle East depends a lot on other countries for such development and supply. Lack of medical facilities and institutions are not allowing these countries to combat this pandemic situation. To calm the population governments are promising to develop medicines and vaccines which in current political condition of the countries are not possible.
There has been fake news that is being circulated in Middle Eastern regions which specifies that Covid-19 is a conspiracy and that there is no existence of such virus. In addition to this there is also news which specifies that the Muslims are not affected by this virus. This is being believed by the common individuals of this location (Naggar, Mona, 2020). One of the main reasons behind this is the lack of trust between the government officials and the common people. The people do not believe their government and they try to find a conspiracy in everything that is shared by their governments. In this condition where the individuals do not believe the mere existence of the virus and its threat, the question of vaccine is not entertained.
There is fake news which is being circulated that specifies that individuals are converting their religion to Mohammedan to protect themselves from Covid-19. There are images and news articles that are being spread related to these stories. These incidents are being spread using social media platforms and they are misleading the common population who are blaming the government for lying and accusing them of fraud. During the initial stages of pandemic the news was spread in Middle Eastern regions that only non-Muslims are being affected by this virus and that this is a punishment by God on China due to them treating Muslim minorities with harshness. News specifying that Italians are converting to Islam to prevent the spread of virus were also believed and entertained by this population. In this situation, the Government asked the individuals to remain in their homes due to absence of vaccines due to which the Government was blamed for entertaining fake news. Religious superiority was focused on by these individuals.
Analysis of Healthcare economics
Economic conditions of these countries are not strong due to the lack of development in the different field. In such situation the pandemic came into existence (Naggar, Mona, 2020). Constant wars and conflicts have already affected the backbone of this location and it is very difficult for them to stand on their feet. Syria, Yemen and Libya’s healthcare system has been damaged to the core due to the presence of constant conflict. It is essential to understand that there is no development in this location for years due to the presence of war and conflicts. The governments of these locations are not properly established and there are constant political conflicts. There is no stability of government and as a result of this there are no long term plans that can be developed and completed. There are huge sections of refugees and migrants that are present in these locations. This leads to this population being vulnerable to the virus.

Figure 2: GDP of MENA countries
The economic condition of thee counties in Middle East and North Africa are not strong as a result of which they are not comfortable and cannot develop their health care industries. These companies require support of other countries or the United Nation for development of healthcare facilities. Due to constant conflicts and political disruptions there is no stability in the development of these countries. The war has led to destruction of many institutions.

Figure 3: FDI in health industries
These statistics are based on data of Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia. These are a clear specification that Foreign Investment has been raising in these countries and as a result of this the development was continuing till 2019 (Naggar, Mona, 2020). In recent conditions of global lockdown the development of the health economics have been halted.
With lack of development in the field of health economics it is nearly impossible for these countries to combat the current situation. According to latest updates the governments in this location are not concentrating on health economics due to lack of capital availability, the government does not have enough capital that can be invested on this department. In addition the risk of wars being continued is also present which specifies that any modification or development will be destroyed and that will be a waste of capital.

Figure 4: Expense of countries on their Healthcare finance
This figure helps in understanding that Egypt spends a lot of its capital as development of healthcare finances (Knell, Yolande, 2020). However no other Middle Eastern countries can be seen in this list which is clear specification that such other locations are suffering from lack of stability.
Conclusion
From this assignment it can be understood that the pandemic situation has created multiple complications for the Middle East and the rest of the globe as well. This assignment helps to understand the issues that are being faced in the Middle East related to aspects of political and economic aspects. Different objects that are being taken into account which are related to political turmoil are mentioned in this assignment which helps to understand the issues that the political authorities of the Middle Eastern countries are focusing on (Bowen, Jeremy, 2020). Vaccines related to the Covid-19 situation that has been promised by the different governments are also focused on in this assignment.
The Governments are modifying respective policies so that they can search for relevant vaccines that might help them in dealing with this situation. This assignment also helps in understanding multiple healthcare economies and respective policies that are modified to focus on the health conditions of the individuals in the countries (Theguardian.com, 2020). Different issues that are faced by the governments in terms of this pandemic situation are evaluated in this assignment which helps in assessing the impact of this pandemic on this region. This assignment has taken into account different, newspaper articles and media discussions which has helped this assignment to understand the point of view of common individuals. It has also helped in understanding the issues and the aspects due to which these countries are falling behind in terms of healthcare economics.

Works Cited
Bowen, Jeremy. (2020) Coronavirus stokes Middle East boiling points. Retrieved from: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-52493608 [Accessed on 30th October]
Knell, Yolande. (2020) Palestinians working in Israel face coronavirus dilemma. Retrieved from: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-52493608 [Accessed on 30th October]
Naggar, Mona. (2020) Arabs find comfort in coronavirus conspiracy theories. Retrieved from: https://en.qantara.de/content/covid-19-and-fake-news-in-the-middle-east-arabs-find-comfort-in-coronavirus-conspiracy [Accessed on 30th October]
Theguardian.com, 2020 Covid-19 in the Middle East: 'Normal life is back – including the tensions' Retrieved from: https://www.theguardian.com/membership/2020/aug/02/covid-19-middle-east-life-in-pandemic-jordan- [Accessed on 30th October]
Thenationalnews.com, 2020 Coronavirus in the Middle East: lockdowns extended across the region Retrieved from: https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/mena/coronavirus-in-the-middle-east-lockdowns-extended-across-the-region-1.995673 [Accessed on 30th October]
Thenationalnews.com, 2020. In the Middle East, Covid-19 optimism risks fading. Retrieved from: https://www.thenationalnews.com/opinion/comment/in-the-middle-east-covid-19-optimism-risks-fading-1.1071995 [Accessed on 30th October]
Thiry, Alexis. (2020) Will COVID-19 Create a Human Rights Crisis in the Middle East and North Africa? Retrieved from: https://www.justsecurity.org/72643/will-covid-19-create-a-human-rights-crisis-in-the-middle-east-and-north-africa/ [Accessed on 30th October]