The fourth comic in our ‘Uncertain Worlds’ series looks at the lessons from recent disease outbreaks.
Thinking differently about uncertainties could point to alternative ways to respond to pandemics.
When disease outbreaks occur, the dominant tendency is to attempt to manage and control. Epidemiological models are developed, technologies deployed and lockdown measures and other public health measures instituted.
Since the outbreak of COVID-19, many meetings and reports have focused on centralised planning, modelling and prediction capacity, surveillance systems, big data technologies, rapid response teams, drug and vaccine research and development and stockpiling and purchase arrangements.
To respond more effectively, other approaches are also needed, which are sometimes neglected in planning for outbreaks. These include appreciating multiple knowledges, learning from those on the ground; seeing outbreaks as unfolding over time rather than as discrete ‘events’; understanding local differences and responses, and unpredictable behaviour; understanding how diseases interact with other vulnerabilities and acknowledging that longer-term impacts can’t be fully known. This suggests a very different approach to ‘pandemic preparedness’.
Read the comic
Read the article
Leach, M., MacGregor, H., Ripoll, S., Scoones, I. and Wilkinson, A. (2021) Rethinking disease preparedness: incertitude and the politics of knowledge, Critical Public Health, 32(1), 82-96.
About the Uncertain Worlds series
What are you uncertain about? If you can’t control or predict the future, how can you prepare for it? Uncertainty can be scary, but can it also be a source of hope or opportunity?
The PASTRES project is sharing seven comics in a series called ‘Uncertain Worlds’. It explores stories about uncertainty in the worlds of pastoralism, economics and finance, pandemics, migration, humanitarian aid, insurance and knowledge networks. Many of the comics draw on lessons from pastoralists, whose ways of life can help to challenge our assumptions of how to respond to the unpredictable and unknown.
The comics have been created by the artist Daniel Locke in collaboration with the PASTRES team. Each comic is linked to a peer-reviewed academic article produced in collaboration with the PASTRES project.
Exhibition: Uncertain Worlds
Large scale printed versions of the comics will be on show in October 2023 at an exhibition, Uncertain Worlds.
The exhibition will be in Brighton, UK from 25-29 October 2023. Opening hours are 11am – 5pm and entry is free.
Address:
Phoenix Art Space
10-14 Waterloo Place,
Brighton, BN2 9NB
View map
View website
There will be a launch event on the evening of 24 October: email n.oxley@ids.ac.uk for details.
Find out more
For an overview and links to all the comics when they are published, visit the Uncertain Worlds page.
Pastoralism, Uncertainty and Resilience - PASTRES 