Narrating the pandemic
Covid-19, China and blame allocation strategies in Western European popular press
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12599475 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Monika Pietrzak-Franger (0000-0002-9431-5999, University of Vienna, corresponding author), Alina Lange (0000-0001-9677-5668, University of Vienna), Rebecca Söregi (University of Vienna) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 25 |
| Issue | 5 |
| Pages | 1286-1306 |
| Publication date | 2022-03-10 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | European Journal of Cultural Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1367-5494 • E-ISSN: 1460-3551 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/13675494221077291 |
| OpenAlex | W4220696923 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 28 |
Blaming the emergence and spread of COVID-19 on various social groups has been a central theme in narrating the pandemic. In such narratives, China has often emerged as a convenient scapegoat. However, systematic research into transcultural and culture-specific strategies of stigmatisation in the context of the corona pandemic is still scarce. With the help of a cultural studies perspective and multimodal analysis, we contribute to this effort by tracing the blame allocation strategies of the online platforms of three Western European newspapers – Daily Mail (the United Kingdom), Bild (Germany) and Neue Kronen Zeitung (Austria). We argue that, in their early accounts of the COVID-19 pandemic, all three newspapers perpetuated narratives of the pandemic outbreak that were then skilfully choreographed to support narratives of invasion that register anxieties over China’s potential rise to world dominance. While the strategies the venues apply show striking similarities, occasional differences account for the respective countries’ differing relations with and attitudes to China
Blame · China · Context (archaeology · Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19 · Literature · Media studies · Narrative · Newspaper · Pandemic · Political science · Scapegoat · Sociology · COVID-19 Pandemic Impacts · Gender Studies · History · Humor Studies and Applications · Law · Media Studies and Communication · Psychology · Social Psychology
Narratology
Fictions of Disease in Early Modern England
Healing Dramas and Clinical Plots
Multimodality
Narrative Medicine
Historical linkages
Conflating culture with Covid-19
After “The China Virus” Went Viral
Experiencing the Pandemic
The UK media coverage of China’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak
‘The China Virus’
Placing the Blame
Xenophobia in the time of pandemic
Pandemic and its metaphors
Framing the Origins of Covid-19
Sinophobic Stigma Going Viral
Smallpox and the Literary Imagination 1660-1820
Who's Afraid of Susan Sontag? or, the Myths and Metaphors of Cancer Reconsidered
Contagious
| Unique citing works | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0.75 |
| Citation span | 2022 - 2023 (2) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 3 |