The COVID-19 pandemic was a global event, but it was not experienced, narrated, or understood in the same way everywhere. In Africa, and particularly in Cameroon, it was also a period of intense discourse, controversy and knowledge-building, revealing the importance of media, public spacesand social dynamics in the construction of a health event that became deeply political, cultural and communicational.
These are the dynamics explored in “Perspectives africaines sur la pandémie de COVID-19. Retour sur la construction médiatique et discursive d’un événement", a collection co-edited by Dr. Thomas Hervé Mboa Nkoudou, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication of the Faculty of Arts and a Faculty member at the Centre for Law, Technology and Society at the University of Ottawa. Published by Éditions science et bien commun, the collection offers a critical reflection on how the COVID-19 pandemic was narrated, interpreted, mediated and appropriated in African public spaces.
Through contributions from various disciplines within the humanities and social sciences, this collection explores the multiple dimensions of the pandemic, including methodological reflexivity, the media’s construction of the crisis, the circulation of knowledge and misinformation, governmentcommunication, vaccine controversies, religious discourses, and the safeguarding and promotion of Indigenous knowledge.
The scientific analysis of a phenomenon as significant as the COVID-19 pandemic requires a methodical and rigorous approach, which cannot be reduced to a mere reaction. It demands a degree of perspective to allow for the gradual development of critical thinking. As such, the collection is not limited to a mere descriptive assessment of the pandemic, but draws lessons from it and offers new avenues to understand contemporary crises in a context shaped by digital technologies, hyperconnectivity and the rapid circulation of discourse.
Perspectives africaines sur la pandémie de COVID-19 is available in open access with Éditions science et bien commun .