‘I Know Who Caused COVID-19’: Pandemics and Xenophobia

A timely exploration of the global explosion in xenophobia during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Through a close analysis of four cases from around the world, this book explores prejudice toward groups who are thought to have caused and spread COVID-19: the residents of Wuhan and Black African communities in China; ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities in the United States, United Kingdom, and Israel; African-Americans in the United States and Black/Asian/mixed ethnic communities in the United Kingdom; and White right-wing groups in the United States and Europe. The authors examine stereotyping and the false attribution of blame towards these groups, as well as what happens when a collective is actually at fault, and how the community deals with these conflicting issues.

This is a timely, cogent examination of the blame and xenophobia that have been brought to the surface by the COVID-19 pandemic.