IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v19y2022i15p8986-d870135.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Fear, Stigma and Othering: The Impact of COVID-19 Rumours on Returnee Migrants and Muslim Populations of Nepal

Author

Listed:
  • Pramod R. Regmi

    (Faculty of Health and Social Sciences, Bournemouth University, Bournemouth BH8 8GP, UK)

  • Shovita Dhakal Adhikari

    (Faculty of Health and Social Sciences, Bournemouth University, Bournemouth BH8 8GP, UK)

  • Nirmal Aryal

    (Faculty of Health and Social Sciences, Bournemouth University, Bournemouth BH8 8GP, UK)

  • Sharada P. Wasti

    (School of Human and Health Sciences, University of Huddersfield, Huddersfield HD1 3DH, UK)

  • Edwin van Teijlingen

    (Faculty of Health and Social Sciences, Bournemouth University, Bournemouth BH8 8GP, UK)

Abstract

The paper explores how COVID-19-related moral panics have led to fear and othering practices among returnee Nepalese migrants from India and Muslims living in Nepal. This qualitative study included in-depth interviews with 15 returnee migrants, 15 Muslims from Kapilvastu and Banke districts of Nepal, and eight interviews with media and health professionals, and representatives from migration organisations. Four themes emerged from our data analysis: (1) rumours and mis/disinformation; (2) impact of rumours on marginalised groups (with three sub-themes: (i) perceived fear; (ii) othering practices; (iii) health and social impact); (3) resistance; and (4) institutional response against rumours. Findings suggest that rumours and misinformation were fuelled by various media platforms, especially social media (e.g., Facebook, YouTube) during the initial months of the lockdown. This created a moral panic which led to returnee migrants and Muslim populations experiencing fear and social isolation. Resistance and effective institutional responses to dispel rumours were limited. A key contribution of the paper is to highlight the lived experiences of COVID-19 related rumours on marginalised groups. The paper argues that there is a need for clear government action using health promotion messages to tackle rumours (health-related or otherwise), mis/disinformation and mitigating the consequences (hatred and tensions) at the community level.

Suggested Citation

  • Pramod R. Regmi & Shovita Dhakal Adhikari & Nirmal Aryal & Sharada P. Wasti & Edwin van Teijlingen, 2022. "Fear, Stigma and Othering: The Impact of COVID-19 Rumours on Returnee Migrants and Muslim Populations of Nepal," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(15), pages 1-14, July.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:15:p:8986-:d:870135
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/15/8986/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/15/8986/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dionne, Kim Yi & Turkmen, Fulya Felicity, 2020. "The Politics of Pandemic Othering: Putting COVID-19 in Global and Historical Context," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 74(S1), pages 213-230, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Yoo, Nari & Jang, Sou Hyun, 2024. "Does social empathy moderate fear-induced minority blaming during the COVID-19 pandemic?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 346(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Aleem Mahabir & Romario Anderson & Robert Kinlocke & Rose-Ann Smith & Kristinia Doughorty & Chandradath Madho, 2022. "Discourse, Difference, and Divergence: Exploring Media Representations and Online Public Sentiments toward Marginalized Urban Communities in Jamaica during the COVID-19 Pandemic," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-18, May.
    2. Shiyi Zhang & Panayiota Tsatsou & Lauren McLaren & Yimei Zhu, 2024. "Comparing location-specific and location-open social media data: methodological lessons from a study of blaming of minorities on Twitter during the COVID-19 pandemic," Journal of Computational Social Science, Springer, vol. 7(3), pages 2457-2479, December.
    3. Yoo, Nari & Jang, Sou Hyun, 2024. "Does social empathy moderate fear-induced minority blaming during the COVID-19 pandemic?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 346(C).
    4. Lonnie R. Snowden & Jonathan M. Snowden, 2021. "Coronavirus Trauma and African Americans’ Mental Health: Seizing Opportunities for Transformational Change," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(7), pages 1-10, March.
    5. Dušan Ristić & Dušan Marinković, 2022. "Biopolitics of othering during the COVID-19 pandemic," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-8, December.
    6. Bo Zhou & Lei Jiang, 2022. "Unsustainable Urban Development Based on Temporary Workers: A Study on the Changes of Immigration in Macau between 1992 and 2019," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-19, November.
    7. Carol Nash, 2021. "Challenges to Learners in Interpreting Self as Other, Post COVID-19," Challenges, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-24, November.
    8. Ho, Kung-Cheng & Yao, Chia-ling & Zhao, Chenfang & Pan, Zikui, 2022. "Modern health pandemic crises and stock price crash risk," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 448-463.
    9. Youngwan Kim & Sang-Hwan Lee & Young Jun Cho, 2023. "Donor motivation in the era of the COVID-19 crisis: Focusing on South Korean health diplomacy and response aid to COVID-19," International Area Studies Review, Center for International Area Studies, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, vol. 26(1), pages 71-86, March.
    10. Ojong, Nathanael & Agbe, Eyram, 2023. "“This is most likely not the correct vaccine”: Analyzing COVID-19's viral spread and vaccine anxieties in Ghana, Cameroon, and Malawi," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 329(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:15:p:8986-:d:870135. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.