Covid-19 talks — Abu Dhabi Art

Has Covid-19 effects on national stereotyping? — by Jamila Adeli

National stereotypes are certainly challenged since Covid-19. One example of how conversations are tackling the notions of national stereotypes and how national framings became activated is a dinner conversation which I experienced at the Abu Dhabi Art Fair. A group of exhibitors and I were talking about the rise of anti-vaccinationists in Germany and I was addressed to explain that phenomenon - a topic which resulted into a discussion on how different states interact with “their” people to fight the pandemic. What is the role of the media and how are people affected in their daily practices? Which role do numbers and statistics play in the coping strategies of people? Why are certain countries more affected than others - if this is true at all? 

It was interesting to me how personal anecdotes were told and related to the national level - as if it was again an explanatory model to make sense of current times. To my surprise, I was asked at that very dinner table whether we don’t wash properly in Germany (relating to the question why Germany has such high numbers in Covid-19 cases).

This question made us laugh at first but also created a slightly tense mood as it was a clear reference to the perceived “state” of Germany, a country that has the reputation of “high standards” and a country that in comparison to India has all means to fight the pandemic most successfully: enough money for masks and tests; high quality hospitals; the prominent and effective vaccine BioNTech/ Pfizer; a functioning state; serious media actors and rational citizens. What happened to the notion of a strong, technically highly developed and meticulously structured Germany? Is the perceived inability of the state and people to deal “properly” with the virus the beginning of a change in how Germany is being looked at by other nationalities? Is nationality becoming again an analytical lens, after Western thinkers like Benedict Anderson have de-constructed it since the 1990s?

Whereas these small-talk discussions were somehow odd, they revealed a collective sense of belonging to a Covid-19 era which has emerged amongst art world actors at this art event. Such a collective sense of belonging certainly facilitated communicative networking without the usual boundaries, and a “we are in this together”-feeling. On the other hand, it became clear that conversations on practices related to Covid-19 measurements were characterized by national stereotyping and by the awareness, how different Covid-19 and vaccine realities have been experienced. 

Take the example of our discussion and comparison of vaccine types and national vaccination strategies: BioNTech-Pfizer was assumed to be the most effective vaccine as Germany is technically very progressed; Sputnik 5 and Sinovac were considered as less effective and suspicious due to the general notion of China and Russia being intransparent and hence hard to trust. We agreed that access to vaccination is still a power game between Western centers and non-Western peripheries; and we were puzzled whether Indian bodies really are more capable to fight the virus off than European ones as they were generally more exposed to diverse and more organic living contexts - a hypothesis that circulated in German media around that time; 

Be it on the topic of “Chinese eating cultures” or on “general hygiene practices in Germany”, national stereotypes as explanatory models became very visible during conversations like the one mentioned above. It seemed that in trying to make sense of the new circumstances, practices relating to Covid-19 measurements were observed through the notion of the nation and its stereotypes. It was interesting to see though that national stereotyping was not used to judge but rather as a tool to explain a phenomenon that created so much turmoil, losses and barriers.