Visiting Associate Professor (CHS)
Department of Population Health Sciences
UW-Madison
Abstract:
The current top three countries leading the world in COVID cases have long histories of slavery and apartheid (U.S. and Brazil) or caste systems (India). The legacies of colonization, caste, and apartheid are intricately linked to spread of deadly viruses and pathogens. Widespread epidemics and global pandemics reveal the power dynamics in societies. People who have been colonized and marginalized bear a greater burden of disease than the people who belong to the group that did the colonizing and marginalizing.
Using the United States as a case study, Dr. Brown examines how the novel coronavirus is spreading in spatial context consistent with its history. COVID-19’s lethal march across the nation can only be halted by acknowledging ongoing historical trauma and allocating deep resources to communities and people who have been deeply under-resourced.