To Be Q'eqchi' During COVID-19: The Impact of Marginalization and Misinformation on Healthcare Behaviour and Decision-Making
Date
2024-12-13
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
ORCID
Type
Thesis
Degree Level
Masters
Abstract
This thesis compares the knowledge and healthcare behaviour regarding infectious and contagious diseases to the knowledge and healthcare behaviour regarding COVID-19 among the Q’eqchi’ Maya community living in Indian Creek village in southern Belize. The product of ten weeks of ethnographic fieldwork, thirty-six interviews, and twelve pile sort exercises, this thesis focuses on how Q’eqchi’ ontology, cosmovision, their marginalized position as Indigenous peoples, and their historical and lived-experiences with external authority figures increased the rate of COVID-19 misinformation acceptance. The acceptance and spread of COVID-19 misinformation shaped the knowledge regarding COVID-19’s etiology, seriousness, preventive measures, and treatment options, thus disrupting how the Q’eqchi’ navigate healthcare decision-making in their medically-plural landscape. As a result, COVID-19 vaccines were met with suspicion, hesitation, or outright refusal, and other public health measures were either ignored or adhered to out of fear of punishment. Further, the number of available treatment options for COVID-19 was significantly reduced as the belief that COVID-19 was human-made and untreatable was widespread. By sharing the logic behind Q’eqchi’ healthcare behaviour during the pandemic, this thesis identifies the importance of cultural epidemiology and medical anthropologists in the planning and implementation of public health strategies for future public health emergencies
Description
Keywords
medical anthropology, anthropology, public health, cultural epidemiology, ontology, Q'eqchi', Maya, Indigenous, COVID-19, Vaccine, Public Health Measures, Belize, Infectious and Contagious Diseases, Ethnography
Citation
Degree
Master of Arts (M.A.)
Department
Archaeology and Anthropology
Program
Anthropology