An Ethnographic Examination of People’s Reactions to State-Led COVID-19 Measures in Sierra Leone

Abstract

This paper explores how individuals—defined along lines of gender, age, life experience, financial capital and profession—experience and react in nuanced ways to the impacts of state-led COVID-19 measures, in Sierra Leone. The findings are based on ethnographic data collected from Makeni city and three rural communities in Bombali District, north Sierra Leone during the outbreak of COVID-19, between 23rd March and 6th May 2020. The findings show how state-led measures—indefinite district lockdown, three-day total lockdowns and mask wearing—were experienced and responded to in myriad ways, including adapting, not complying and resisting. The diverse ways members of society experience, react and shape the effects of internationally and nationally informed health policies during a global pandemic in Sierra Leone highlight the nuances of individual experience and agency in specific socio-political contexts. These findings contribute to the emerging Social Science debate on state–society relations in the COVID-19 pandemic response.

Community-Level Experiences, Understandings, and Responses to COVID-19 in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Systematic Review of Qualitative and Ethnographic Studies

“…Investigations into how pandemic information and knowledge arrive at, and are interpreted by, the community were achieved through enquiring into the perceptions and understandings of COVID-19 [59,63,65,66,68,72,76,78,81]. Information access and its effect on perception and experience were linked to education and geography, with educated, urban, younger populations having better access to technology and social media [64,65], yet the perceived or reported reliability of information sources was not described in depth.…”

“…In Sierra Leone, rumors of police bribes by the wealthy to enable free movement during social lockdowns revealed how suspicion arises from economic inequality. Individual subjugation to the regulations of the state was perceived as uneven, with preference given to the privileged in society [66]. The circulation of these rumors, even assuming some basis in truth, had a negative impact on the management of pandemic information and, thereby, on community responses.…”

“…Most studies in this review observed the psychosocial and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in LMIC communities around the world [57][58][59][60]63,64,[66][67][68]71,78,80]. The public health literature on pandemics and epidemics of infectious origin is rife with accounts of how these catastrophic disruptions to ordinary life are met by disarray and uncertainty, spawning fear and heightened anxiety [19,20] and often resulting in marginalization and stigma, as communities grapple with unknowns and avoid risks [8,[100][101][102][103][104].…”

“…Beyond the immediate psychological impacts of job loss, lack of economic security was associated with constraints in the ability to comply with government-regulated social restrictions and increased vulnerability [76]. Several studies observed that marginalized populations in pre-pandemic settings, such as indigenous or poor communities in all settings, were at pronounced risk during the pandemic, compounded by the ever-present possibility of natural disasters, such as earthquakes, floods, and the pandemic itself [59,65,66].…”

“…Studying state-led pandemic regulation and social restrictions, Jess Jones found that older community members in Sierra Leone were more vulnerable to increased poverty, caused in part by limitations in access to digital finance platforms and their lack of mobile phones [66]. She also outlined an analytical framework of community responses centered around adaptation, non-compliance, and active and passive resistance.…”