Paper short abstract:

In this work, I put across some of my patchy thoughts on pandemic experiences of queer/kothi identities in West Bengal. I attempt to bring to light ways in which resilience enmeshes with contingencies of kothi subjectivities in/around Kolkata, as we approach futurities beyond COVID-19.

Paper long abstract:

The COVID-19 pandemic has increasingly altered ways in which kothi—gender variant individuals specific to South Asia, assigned male at birth, who have certain feminine subjectivity, and may or may not identify as (trans) women but lie in the trans (feminine) spectrum—lives are oriented towards a conviviality-mutual cohabitation of the virus and humans. But this is not the first time such a reorientation is registered in the chartings of kothi subjectivities. The AIDS epidemic of the 1990s had largely prompted a transformation of the sexuality discourse in South Asia.

In this work, I try to sketch ways in which community engagements have led to a certain possibility of kothi existence in Kolkata through the covid-19 pandemic-through various kinds of community activism, relationships and solidarities—in ever-altering configuration since the HIV / AIDS epidemic—like providing economic relief, shelter, mental health support, etc.

Shaj Mohan, in his writings on the pandemic, mentions the idea that we all tend to keep faith in the persistence of the world and civilization. Even though we cannot exactly reason this persistence, we still rely on this 'obscure experience' to think and act through our present. I emphasize on the idea of shared living built through such an obscure experience in kothi communities of Kolkata, West Bengal to provide a patchy entry-point into the possibilities of a beyond-COVID futurity for kothi individuals; such extra-pandemic existence can be mapped through the convival entanglements of a resilience along with multiple contingencies that haunt kothi lives.

Paper short abstract:

The paper compares Beninese state policies on the pandemic of COVID-19 and on pastoralism: their logics, measures, responses and perceived outcomes. We argue that the long-term consequences of these paradoxical policies have the potential to deepen already existing social disparities.

Paper long abstract:

During the last two years, in the West African Republic of Benin we observe parallels of state efforts to control and restrict a) the mobility of the virus of SARS-CoV-2 and its descendants, and b) the mobility of pastoralists, that is, cattle herders living in the Northern part of the country. The mobility of the latter, being seen as a thread by colonial and postcolonial governments, became the object of intensified state efforts during the same period as the pandemic of COVID-19 turns the world.

In this paper we examine current Beninese state policies on the pandemic and policies on pastoralism: their logics, measures, responses and perceived outcomes by the population. Following James Scott (1998) we argue that state policies in these seemingly independent fields of state intervention follow comparable logics and they use partly comparable measures; both policies evoke “arts of resistance” (Scott 1990), while their long-term consequences have the potential to deepen existing social disparities. The contribution is based on empirical data collected in Benin between August 2021 and April 2022 in the framework of the DFG-financed project “COVID-19 and Pastoralism in a context of rupture and structural reforms in Benin: Learning from uncertainty management from below”. The project was developed and is realized in collaboration between researches from the University of Parakou (Benin) und the University of Goettingen (Germany).

Paper short abstract:

This paper discusses how the COVID-19 pandemic transformed and amplified the caring roles of Scottish older people. We challenge the stereotypical view of older people as recipients of care rather than providers through lessons from the Healthy Ageing in Scotland COVID Impact and Recovery Study.

Paper long abstract:

Taking on this panel theme of challenges of care in later life, we propose to turn the paradigm of caring in later life on its head by looking at older people as care providers during the COVID-19 pandemic. The paper is informed by interview findings from a mixed-method project, the Healthy Ageing in Scotland (HAGIS) COVID Impact and Recovery Study, conducted at the University of Stirling, Scotland. Our findings demonstrate that people aged 50 years and older provided vital care during the pandemic, in particular for family members (e.g., partner with dementia; adult children; grandchildren with and without disabilities/learning difficulties). Similarly, they stepped in to provide and show care in their community, for friends and neighbours, through various actions and individual gestures. We will discuss how older people's caring responsibilities have been transformed, complicated, challenged and amplified by the pandemic, in particular when usual community care or other forms of support have been disrupted by COVID-19 restrictions. Some of the challenges we will discuss also include the inability of providing care and its effects on all those involved. We also aim to challenge the stereotypes of older people as being mostly recipients of care by discussing how older people have essential roles in inter-generational constellations of care.

All interviews have been designed and conducted using co-production approaches with our seven co-researchers, who are volunteers aged over 50 who live in Scotland. In the spirit of co-production, the paper will be presented as a team with our co-researchers.