World Health Organization myth busters and indigenous perceptions of COVID-19: Quechua and Shipibo communities

Liliana Sánchez; Helen Koulidobrova

doi:10.1016/j.amper.2023.100118

World Health Organization myth busters and indigenous perceptions of COVID-19: Quechua and Shipibo communities

Ampersand (Oxford). 2023:10:100118. doi: 10.1016/j.amper.2023.100118. Epub 2023 Apr 18.

Authors

Liliana Sánchez¹, Helen Koulidobrova²

Affiliations

¹ University of Illinois Chicago, Department of Hispanic and Italian Studies, 601 S. Morgan St., 1722 UH Chicago, IL, 60607, USA.
² Central Connecticut State University, Department of English, Willard 404-06 1615 Stanley St., New Britain, CT, 06050, USA.

Abstract

When the COVID (SARS-V2) pandemic swept across the world, it impacted Indigenous communities more than others. This is due to a variety of reasons: socioeconomic injustice and racialization, lack of access to equitable healthcare, and linguistic discrimination. As a result, several communities and community types demonstrated this effect when perceptions of inferences or other COVID-related information were measured. This paper reports on a participatory collaborative study with two Indigenous communities in rural Peru-ten Quechua-speaking communities in Southern Cuzco and three Shipibo-speaking communities in Ucayali regions. We investigate the communities' level of preparedness for the crisis by eliciting answers based on the World Health Organization COVID 'MythBusters' in a form of a semi-structured interview. Interviews were transcribed, translated, and analyzed in search of the effect of three variables: gender (male/female), language group (Shipibo/Quechua), and proficiency in the Indigenous language (from 0 to 4). Data reveal that all three variables have some effect on the target comprehension of COVID-related messages. Additionally, we explore other possible explanations.

Keywords: COVID19; Indigenous languages; Myth busters; Quechua; Shipibo.