Normal Island: COVID-19, Border Control, and Viral Nationalism in UK Public Health Discourse.

Des Fitzgerald

doi:10.1177/13607804211049464

Abstract

In this contribution, I present emergent analysis of a preoccupation with managing COVID-19 through border control, among non-Governmental public health actors and commentators. Through a reading of statements, tweets, and interviews from the 'Independent Sage' group - individually and collectively - I show how the language of border control, and of maintaining immunity within the national boundaries of the UK, has been a notable theme in the group's analysis. To theorize this emphasis, I draw comparison with the phenomenon of 'green nationalism', in which the urgency of climate action has been turned to overtly nationalistic ends; I sketch the outlines of what I call 'viral nationalism,' a political ecology that understands the pandemic as an event occurring differentially between nation states, and thus sees pandemic management as, inter alia, a work of involuntary detention at securitized borders. I conclude with some general remarks on the relationship between public health, immunity, and national feeling in the UK.

Highlights

In this contribution, I present emergent analysis of a preoccupation with managing COVID-19 through border control, among non-Governmental public health actors and commentators
I argue that this imagery suggests a striking attachment to securitized national borders including the explicit use of those borders to a protect or defend some national space, among many public health commentators
Independent Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) was founded around three broad convictions: (1) that the government’s strategy was likely inadequate to contain the pandemic, and not well rooted in the scientific evidence (Independent Sage, 2020a); (2) that this failure was partly because the government’s scientific advice was tainted by political calculation (Davis, 2020); (3) that transparency of analysis and advice were central to resolving this problem (Baker, 2020)

Summary

Introduction

I present emergent analysis of a preoccupation with managing COVID-19 through border control, among non-Governmental public health actors and commentators.

Results

Conclusion