Three Acts of Resistance during the 2014–16 West Africa Ebola Epidemic: A Focus on Community Engagement
Community engagement is commonly regarded as a crucial entry point for gaining access and securing trust during humanitarian emergencies. In this article, we present three case studies of community engagement encounters during the West African Ebola outbreak. They represent strategies commonly imple...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Manchester University Press
2019-08-01
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| Series: | Journal of Humanitarian Affairs |
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| _version_ | 1811247215822241792 |
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| author | Frédéric Le Marcis Luisa Enria Sharon Abramowitz Almudena-Mari Saez Sylvain Landry B. Faye |
| author_facet | Frédéric Le Marcis Luisa Enria Sharon Abramowitz Almudena-Mari Saez Sylvain Landry B. Faye |
| author_sort | Frédéric Le Marcis |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Community engagement is commonly regarded as a crucial entry point for gaining access and securing trust during humanitarian emergencies. In this article, we present three case studies of community engagement encounters during the West African Ebola outbreak. They represent strategies commonly implemented by the humanitarian response to the epidemic: communication through comités de veille villageois in Guinea, engagement with NGO-affiliated community leadership structures in Liberia and indirect mediation to chiefs in Sierra Leone. These case studies are based on ethnographic fieldwork carried out before, during and after the outbreak by five anthropologists involved in the response to Ebola in diverse capacities. Our goal is to represent and conceptualise the Ebola response as a dynamic interaction between a response apparatus, local populations and intermediaries, with uncertain outcomes that were negotiated over time and in response to changing conditions. Our findings show that community engagement tactics that are based on fixed notions of legitimacy are unable to respond to the fluidity of community response environments during emergencies. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T15:05:00Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-fdeb7921d55349feae5d3598b244d550 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2515-6411 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T15:05:00Z |
| publishDate | 2019-08-01 |
| publisher | Manchester University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Humanitarian Affairs |
| spelling | doaj.art-fdeb7921d55349feae5d3598b244d5502022-12-22T03:27:59ZengManchester University PressJournal of Humanitarian Affairs2515-64112019-08-0112233110.7227/JHA.014Three Acts of Resistance during the 2014–16 West Africa Ebola Epidemic: A Focus on Community EngagementFrédéric Le Marcis0Luisa Enria1Sharon AbramowitzAlmudena-Mari Saez2Sylvain Landry B. Faye3École Normale Supérieure de LyonUniversity of BathRobert Koch InstitutUniversité Cheikah AntaCommunity engagement is commonly regarded as a crucial entry point for gaining access and securing trust during humanitarian emergencies. In this article, we present three case studies of community engagement encounters during the West African Ebola outbreak. They represent strategies commonly implemented by the humanitarian response to the epidemic: communication through comités de veille villageois in Guinea, engagement with NGO-affiliated community leadership structures in Liberia and indirect mediation to chiefs in Sierra Leone. These case studies are based on ethnographic fieldwork carried out before, during and after the outbreak by five anthropologists involved in the response to Ebola in diverse capacities. Our goal is to represent and conceptualise the Ebola response as a dynamic interaction between a response apparatus, local populations and intermediaries, with uncertain outcomes that were negotiated over time and in response to changing conditions. Our findings show that community engagement tactics that are based on fixed notions of legitimacy are unable to respond to the fluidity of community response environments during emergencies.ebolacommunity engagementethnographylegitimacy |
| spellingShingle | Frédéric Le Marcis Luisa Enria Sharon Abramowitz Almudena-Mari Saez Sylvain Landry B. Faye Three Acts of Resistance during the 2014–16 West Africa Ebola Epidemic: A Focus on Community Engagement Journal of Humanitarian Affairs ebola community engagement ethnography legitimacy |
| title | Three Acts of Resistance during the 2014–16 West Africa Ebola Epidemic: A Focus on Community Engagement |
| title_full | Three Acts of Resistance during the 2014–16 West Africa Ebola Epidemic: A Focus on Community Engagement |
| title_fullStr | Three Acts of Resistance during the 2014–16 West Africa Ebola Epidemic: A Focus on Community Engagement |
| title_full_unstemmed | Three Acts of Resistance during the 2014–16 West Africa Ebola Epidemic: A Focus on Community Engagement |
| title_short | Three Acts of Resistance during the 2014–16 West Africa Ebola Epidemic: A Focus on Community Engagement |
| title_sort | three acts of resistance during the 2014 16 west africa ebola epidemic a focus on community engagement |
| topic | ebola community engagement ethnography legitimacy |
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