Covid-19 talks — Dar es Salaam

Has Covid-19 effects on national stereotyping? — by Linda Gerlach

Like in many other parts of the world, also in Tanzania, Germany has the (partly unjustified) reputation of being a very well-organized country with strict and punctual inhabitants. Regarding the way Germany has been dealing with the Covid-19 situation I wouldn’t go so far that it changed this image completely (though it is possible that it did for some people). I rather had the impression that the Tanzanians were rather suprised about the effects that Covid-19 had on the German society (political debates, demonstrations in the streets, etc.) and especially about the number of infections. People could not understand how Covid-19 could hit Germany so hard while in Tanzania there were supposedly hardly any cases (at least according to the Tanzanian government). Thus, I did not feel that people were changing their image of the German state but they were rather feeling pity with the Germans affected by Covid-19.

Another interesting observation in connection with Covid-19 and national stereotypes concerns the image that Tanzanians have of China/Chinese citizens. Many Tanzanians are in general very sceptical towards the Chinese and their way of living. There are a lot of prejudices and stories people tell each other. For example, one story that I heard my friends telling each other involved Chinese people that were feeding tadpoles to their children (which they regarded as absolutely strange and disgusting). This image of China and Chinese citizens is interesting in connection with the pandemic because it might be one aspect influencing and complicating the Tanzanian vaccination campaign: a great part of available doses of vaccine is the Chinese Sinovac. While many Tanzanians seem in general very sceptical towards methods of medical science, their mistrust towards China might keep even more people from getting vaccinated.

Note: All of this is just a personal impression that I got when talking to my friends about China and Covid-19 vaccinations and is thus not representative at all!