Scenes of Shame and Stigma in COVID-19

The WHO has identified social stigma and discrimination related to COVID-19 as problems that need to be urgently addressed. Evidence shows that stigma directly impacts the efficacy of health interventions, while also exacerbating health inequalities - particularly along the lines of race, ethnicity, and class. In the UK, the first months of the COVID-19 crisis have demonstrated that instances of shame, shaming, stigma and discrimination are related to, and often arise from, public health interventions. As a result, there is an urgent need to investigate, understand and address stigma and shame related to COVID-19. 'Scenes of Shame and Stigma in COVID-19' will identify various sites and circumstances of shame, shaming, stigma and discrimination during the first 12 months (January-December 2020) of COVID-19 in the UK, with a particular concern to investigate how digital technologies, neoliberal ideologies and rapid global information exchange have changed the 'scenes of shame and stigma' when compared to previous respiratory pandemics. The project will produce and communicate a body of targeted, rapid and evidence-led recommendations regarding shame, shaming, stigma and discrimination related to COVID-19 to national and global public health bodies, including Public Health England, the NHS, and the WHO. Engaging scholars in philosophy, history and cultural studies, the project will also produce scholarly work identifying and historicising the 'scenes of shame and stigma' in COVID-19, to consider (i) the affective experiences of shame/shaming and (ii) how stigma is connected to broader institutional and political structures, practices and ideologies, along with uneven distributions of social power.