Epidemics in Refugee Settlements.An Ethnogrpahic exploration of 'Preparedness' in Palabek Refugee Settlement, Northern Uganda,during times of COVID-19

为了应对新出现的传染病的威胁，人们越来越重视“防备”。然而，这个概念仍然模棱两可。全球框架是生物医学方法的前景，支持技术和科学解决方案，通常基于概率知识和可量化的风险。对流行病的人类学方法揭示了影响流行病的社会、经济、政治和历史维度，以及这些维度影响应对努力的多种方式。他们提出了这样一个问题：‘为什么做好准备，为谁做准备？’并揭示复杂的“背景”如何被视为可能为“准备”提供信息的历史、思想和做法的来源。这个项目探索难民安置点的“准备”，关注全球框架、生物医学方法和难民视角之间的联系和脱节。防备被认为是与流行病及其周围的不确定性有关的任何一套想法或做法：过去、现在或预期；以及它们在全球政策、生物医学实践中的揭示方式，以及重要的是，在人们自己的日常生活中的揭示方式。2021年4月至2022年5月，在新冠肺炎大流行期间，在乌干达北部主要收容南苏丹难民的帕拉贝克难民定居点及其周围进行了为期12个月的人类学研究。民族志方法被用来发展人类学中的特定研究技能。使用的方法包括与南苏丹家庭一起生活，参与难民的日常生活，以及在卫生设施内和人道主义行为者之间进行参与者观察和非正式对话。此外，对难民、乌干达“收容社区”以及在定居点、区域和国家职位工作的人道主义行为者进行了148次半结构化访谈。这篇论文将在概念上产生影响，详细探索在全球大流行期间有助于理解难民安置中的“准备”的数字、政治、人员和做法，与ESRC了解新冠病毒影响的优先事项保持一致。关键词：流行病、准备、难民、人种学、新冠肺炎

To address the threat of emerging infectious diseases, there is a growing focus on 'preparedness'. This concept, however, remains ambiguous. Global framings foreground biomedical approaches, favouring technical and scientific solutions, often based on probabilistic knowledge and quantifiable risk. Anthropological approaches to epidemics shed light on social, economic, political, and historical dimensions shaping epidemics, and the multiple ways in which these dimensions influence response efforts. They open up the question: 'preparedness for what, and for whom?' and reveal how complex 'contexts' can be seen as a source of histories, ideas and practices that could inform 'preparedness'. This project explores 'preparedness' in a refugee settlement, paying attention to the connections and disconnections between global framings, biomedical approaches and perspectives from refugees. Preparedness is considered as any set of ideas or practices that relate to epidemics and the uncertainty surrounding them: past, present or anticipated; and the way in which they are revealed in global policies, biomedical practices, and importantly, among people themselves in their day-to-day-lives. Between April 2021 and May 2022, twelve months of anthropological research was carried out during the COVID-19 pandemic, in and around Palabek Refugee Settlement in northern Uganda, which hosts mainly South Sudanese refugees. Ethnographic methods were used to develop specific research skills in anthropology. The methods used included living with a South Sudanese family and participating in daily life amongst refugees, and participant observation and informal conversations within health facilities and amongst humanitarian actors. In addition, 148 semi-structured interviews were conducted amongst refugees, Ugandan 'host community', and humanitarian actors working in settlement, regional, and national positions. The thesis will make a conceptual impact, providing a detailed exploration of the numbers, politics, people and practices that contribute to understanding 'preparedness' in refugee settlement, during a global pandemic, aligning with the ESRC's priority of understanding the impact of COVID-19.Key Words: Epidemic, Preparedness, Refugee, ethnography, COVID-19