Pandemic preparedness and pandemic arrival: an ethnographic observation
Résumé
The Pandemic Preparedness Project (PPP) was an attempt to understand community-level pandemic preparedness, primarily using a longitudinal observational research method.Anthropologists refer to this type of approach as 'ethnography'.An ethnographic study is based on long-term residence, during which the researcher becomes well-known to the group being observed and habituated to their way of life.The knowledge, attitudes, and practices of the observed group are studied, contextualised within the researcher's own graspas far as possibleof a social totality, sometimes referred to as a 'life world'.Within the field of epidemiology, the aim of this approach is to understand what informants mean when they report or discuss bio-social facts regarding infection and risks of infection, describe symptoms of disease, or respond to interventions designed to reduce the spread of infectious disease.Sierra Leone has a good number of social scientists, but they have mainly been trained in approaches typically involving the use of questionnaires and numerical methods and are less familiar with ethnographic approaches.I was trained in Political Science and then Public Administration.Ethnography came as a bit of a shock, and these notes are intended to help my fellow researchers better understand what might be involved in taking an ethnographic approach, especially in the context of an epidemiological study intended to shed light on biosocial data.Ethnographically, one becomes acculturated by immersing oneself in the customs and traditions of the community, becoming involved in community undertakings such as the observance of burial protocols, joining them on their farms, and participating fully in community work.In bereaved homes, I would pay condolences to the family as a show of concern for them and the departed soul.When serious matters arose in the community, the town chief would invite me to be part of the jury to resolve the issue.Through this, the community started to recognise me and bestow confidence in me.I started my ethnographic journey in July 2019 in G., a large Kpa Mende village in southern Sierra Leone.My initial experience with the community was somewhat daunting, both for them and for me, in the sense that many people were afraid of me.At that point, many referred to me as a spy in their communities, working for the government.Others assumed I was some kind of journalist who had come to observe them and would later disseminate my findings over social media.However, this changed over time due to my extended stay with them (over two years), during which I became acculturated as a typical Kpa Mende man.After some time, I was simply taken as one of them, which allowed them to unveil hidden facts about various occurrences.With my tape recorder, I soon became a familiar sight in G and its numerous satellite villages.Carrying out my participant observation studies no longer caused fear or comment.This happened about
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