Solidarity on the Authoritarian Periphery: Power, Mistrust, and Social Mobilisation in Pandemic Dagestan

The global COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect Fiji beyond public health, in profound ways. The indirect effects of the pandemic in Fiji coalesce primarily around social, economic, and political issues, presenting individuals, organizations, and communities with livelihood challenges for years to come. With the closure of state borders and ships ceasing to sail, Fiji's supply chains have been disrupted, and food insecurity has increased. Displaced individuals and households are becoming refugees of the COVID-19 crisis. Some businesses (specifically Medium, Small and Micro Enterprises) are closing, while others are suffering losses, with workers being laid off. Fijian households, including both indigenous families and those of Indian descent, face uncertainties and the already vulnerable are turning into extremely vulnerable community members. To explore the experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic in Fijian society, this research adopted a qualitative approach and utilized the following research instruments: (a) virtual ethnography, i.e. keeping track of activities and updates on social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter as the COVID-19 situation evolved in Fiji, (b) participant observation, and (c) people shadowing, to gain a deeper understanding of how different segments of the Fijian society behaved and responded to the situation as it advanced, and (d) informal interviews with ten individuals who were randomly selected from households along the Suva-Nausori corridor. Six females and four males participated in the informal interview component of this research. The youngest participant was a 28-year-old female of iTaukei origin while the eldest was a 54-year-old female, also of iTaukei origin.1 In the present research, my identity was somewhat ambiguous, as both an 'insider' and an 'outsider' of the research community. As a Fijian citizen, and faced with the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic as much as my fellow country folks, I was to a large extent, positioned in this research as an 'insider'. On the other hand, I was also an 'outsider', approaching the community as a professional international civil servant working as Head of Community Research and Ethnographic Solutions Mapping with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Accelerator Lab, Pacific.2 I present the material according to the four phases that have been widely noted for the COVID-19 pandemic: (i) identification and acknowledgement of the virus in mainland China by the World Health Organization (WHO), (ii) virus imports to Fiji, (iii) community transmission, and (iv) containment.3 As mainland China started to battle the virus, authorities around the globe and in Fiji also started stepping up their 'game', making tough decisions in real time to protect their citizens' wellbeing. In early January 2020, Fiji tightened its border security. As cases spiked in mainland China, borders were immediately closed off to foreign nationals who had been in mainland China within 14 days of their intended travel to Fiji. Moris informs me that he has not seen his family since December 2019. His spouse, who is of Chinese descent, has gone to China to celebrate the Chinese New Year with their two daughters, but has not yet been able to return to Fiji. Moris has tried all possible ways to get them back into the country, but all strategies have failed. A mother who left her two-year old behind in Fiji and returned to the West Indies to get the daughter's passport made so that she could take her daughter with her to West Indies has since not been able to return to Fiji. The two-year-old has since been living with her nanny here in Fiji. The only way that she can communicate with her daughter is via Zoom or other online media applications. Shabilo is on a working visa in Fiji. Because her work requires travel across the Pacific, she had traveled to the Solomons. She was stuck in the Solomons for over three months. They would not let her board the flight to Fiji as borders have closed. She had no money. She had given up on her accommodation and her sim card before she left for the airport. She was begging staff at the airport in Honiara to board the flight, but they did not allow her to do so. She was basically left stranded. In these three months she faced so many difficulties. To add to the difficulties, her mother has been hospitalized back in India. She had also run out of her special medications in the Solomons. On top of that she is a vegan and a female - both of which presented additional difficulties. As a female, she was worried for her safety and security, and as a vegan she faced lots of difficulties obtaining nutritious and fresh leafy vegetables for her meals. The vegetables are expensive in Solomons……She felt that decisions were just made overnight and lacked proper instructions. Now, as she is trying to return to India via a repatriation flight, she was told that her COVID-19 test which she did some days ago is invalid. A shop owner in Suva city informed me that his business has been heavily impacted by the pandemic, not because he is not able to make sales, but because he used to import products from mainland China to be sold in Fiji. As border restrictions become tighter, his importations have been affected. In light of the risk of community transmission and restricted travel freedoms, anthropologists like me could only engage in virtual ethnography. Virtual ethnography was the only means to get a sense of what was happening around the country during this period. A few days into lockdown, however, I realized that the virtual ethnography aspects of the research did not portray the full picture. Therefore, I decided to deploy participant observation and people shadowing as additional research tools to gain a deeper understanding of the effects of the pandemic on different segments of Fijian society and on their livelihoods (Figs. 1-3). The participant observation and people shadowing component of the research often entailed making spontaneous car rides to towns, supermarkets, hospitals, and other places such as bus stations to observe people's behaviour during the lockdown period. I could not, however, move out of the city or beyond the town borders. I recorded my observations as diary entries and took photographs that were later used for evidence and reflection purposes. Some of the behaviours and attitudes exhibited by citizens did not bode well for creating and sustaining an engaged COVID-19 society. It was observed that the majority of people continued to stockpile essential items during panic buying for themselves, disregarded the safety guidelines set by the government, and had placed their own needs ahead of other community members. For example, (i) some shop owners engaged in devious activities such as cheating consumers through price gouging face masks, hand sanitizers, and food items, (ii) some citizens recklessly displayed inconsiderate behaviours such as breaking curfew orders individually and as groups5 and (iii) many others engaged in non-compliant activities such as ignoring new instructions set by the Government relating to community gathering.6 The rapidly transformed 'new normal' resulting from the COVID-19 outbreak has left some citizens with a bitter taste in their mouth (Figs. 4, 5). Instances such as breach of quarantine measures by individuals arriving into the country has also caused concern and unease in the community. For instance, the public became outraged at a 62-year woman from Santa Rosa, California who arrived into Fiji on 23 March 2020 on a Los Angeles flight and defied self-quarantine orders by going to the Registrar of Marriage in Suva and requesting an urgent procedure of marriage on 27 March 2020 (Talei 2020). As the spread of the virus in the community was controlled and restrictions on movements scaled back, I started to employ informal interviews to elicit the views, feelings, thoughts, and opinions of individuals along the Suva-Nausori corridor on the COVID-19 pandemic and its impacts on households and livelihoods. This was only possible because I could now sit with individuals at a distance and carry out the interviews. The insights collected through informal interviews were then triangulated with the data obtained via virtual ethnography, participant observation, and people shadowing. We have lost our jobs. Our household income is affected. We are now taking out from our savings, whatever little we have. Our major worries are that of groceries and paying for the rent. I am frightened that he (landlord) will tell us to go. We also have our sickly elderly parents residing with us (Female, iTaukei, 29 yrs). My husband and I juggle with where and how to spend our money……health, medicine, construction……on top of that……you know our culture……we also have to look and provide for our extended family members living with us (Female, Indian descent, 36 yrs). Without a job at hand, no bank wants to give us loans, the only option is to access funds through our superannuation……even that is not enough……you know (Male, Indian descent, 30 yrs). We are now skipping meals. We cannot afford much food since COVID-19……we cannot put much items in the shopping list. Before we used to go and do shopping every Saturday but it's now like once or twice a month at most (Female, iTaukei, 33 yrs). Yes, at times we do get visited by NGOs that distribute food rations but they do have their own dramas……they come and check our kitchens, move around our house, try to speak to outsiders if we are receiving food from elsewhere……maybe that's the way they work (Male, Indian descent, 28 yrs). We are now cooking less and consuming smaller amounts of food (Female, Indian descent, 36 yrs). Before when the tourist ships used to come to Suva, my husband could make somewhere $200-300 per day……he used to do tour guiding……now no more ships (Female, iTaukei, 54 yrs). The price of Kava has gone down because people are not earning, and it is no longer in demand. Our client number and sales have decreased considerably (Male, iTaukei, 35 yrs). I will now have to search for some other work. The little money I make here is not enough. Life here in the urban area was already difficult but with COVID-19……I don't know what the future holds for me and my daughters. If I go back to the village, I will need to take my two daughters (aged 9 and 13) with me. I will need to change their schools also if we return. I can't say much about what our status or the future will look like in the village as there are also no good health care facilities, and our house lacks basic utilities. I am worried about my daughters (Female, iTaukei, 28 yrs). I have seen my husband's behaviour change. He spends most of the time at home with us now because of his reduced hours of work. He picks on everyone very quickly almost every day……to the point that me and my children have become victims of his short temperament. My kids get scared of his sudden change in behaviour (Female, Indian descent, 37 yrs). My parents add fuel to the fire. They know very well that we are facing financial difficulties, yet they continue to invite people to come over for get together and dinners. At times we get financially and mentally drowned. And it's difficult to say no considering our cultural and religious values. In our culture, we cannot object to the decisions of our elderly and religion wise, every visitor is considered equal to God (Male, Indian descent, 35 yrs). I feel for my children. They see those kids out there who are not affected from the effects of COVID-19 because their parents have jobs, and they ask for similar stuff……food……clothes……luxuries of life. But at this time, we just cannot afford all this (Male, Indian descent, 30 yrs). Loss of job has caused some other problems for us. My husband has nothing to do……he goes with his friends and returns either intoxicated with alcohol or kava……this has created the rift between us……I have been tortured twice by my husband……I cannot take it anymore……I am planning for a divorce (Female, Indian descent, 36 yrs). We have already had a big fight regarding who to allow into our house. My parents live with us and they think it is ok to let my other siblings and their families come to our house at any point in time, whenever they desire. I guess it's just the parental instincts (Male, Indian descent, 30 yrs). The International Labour Organization estimates that 115,000 Fijian workers have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic (Krishant 2020). Considering that these 115,000 workers support on average a family of three individuals each, Fiji is set to face serious consequences, especially with regards to food security. While most of the world's nations have favourable food production and manufacturing systems, small island developing states like Fiji lack them. Therefore, Fiji requires care packages, accommodation, food, clothing (including school uniforms), and supplies to cater for these extraordinary circumstances. The absence of widespread local production and manufacturing additionally pose food security challenges, specifically in terms of growing crops and vegetables. There is the additional challenge of developing transnational relationships in the region, as other nations are already dealing with their own difficulties. Initially, Fiji faced an immediate risk of inadequate supply of processed food items which it imports from overseas and heavily relies on as a food source for its people. All these bundled together may lead to food scarcity on the island. Nonetheless, as of 26 August 2020, it has been 129 days since Fiji recorded a new case of COVID-19 in the community, and the Government aims to maintain this unbroken streak (Deo 2020). While some argue that Fiji may become a case study for the rest of the globe, this comes with some caveats (Personal Communication 2020). The key elements of a successful containment of the virus involve (i) strictly following guidelines as set out by the WHO, (ii) open and transparent communication, (iii) continuous updates via radios, and more importantly social media, and (iv) partnerships and engagement. These key touchpoints help strengthen national culture and responses to the pandemic, creating a more COVID-19 informed society in the country. Given Fiji's weak structural economy, 'resource poor' status, unequal household income distribution, and dependence on processed and imported food items, foreign food aid, and remittance, agriculture-based interventions and solutions will need to be part of the immediate response to the threat of COVID-19. The breakdown of support required by the 'Fijian Government National COVID-19 Response Budget Estimate 2019-2020' features food security as the major priority.10 In order to rapidly strengthen Fiji's capacity to increase its own local food supply, it is recommended that concerned parties deploy tools and methodologies that will help identify, innovate, and test agricultural approaches that have the potential to be adapted and scaled up by the local subsistence farming community in a relatively short timeframe. Innovation in food security is something that is also supported by the UNDP Pacific Office's Accelerator Lab. If agriculture is the way forward for a country like Fiji, this will require working with local lead users to identify and test local solutions for sustainable resilient agriculture via rapid experimentation and training.11 This may include a mixture of solutions such as hydroponic farming, high-raised bed farming systems, diversified farming systems, and urban and backyard gardening using lead users of such interventions that have already been identified in past engagements. Such interventions require relatively little financial or technological inputs and could be implemented in a way that strengthens the capacity of the local farming community immediately and in the long-term. It is envisaged that the uptake of these solutions will improve the food security of the people of Fiji, in anticipation and response to the current concatenation of socio-economic shocks that the country faces. This research drew upon a range of observations on how the global COVID-19 pandemic has impacted Fijian households and families, and the domestic economy. From the research, it can be concluded that Fiji (and perhaps the region) has already started to feel a developmental and inequality crisis. Notably, food accessibility is a challenge, although the effects of this on households and families are disproportionate. There are chances that the COVID-19 pandemic will increase the number of people suffering from mental traumas, social insecurity, hunger, and undernourishment in Fiji. Hence, it is important that a small island developing state like Fiji takes the necessary decisive rules and collective actions in order to ensure equal prosperity for all. This paper represents the views of the author and not that of UNDP. Mohseen Riaz Ud Dean is currently working with the UNDP Accelerator Lab, Pacific office based in Suva, Fiji, as Head of Community Research and Ethnographic Solutions Mapping. He holds a PhD in Anthropology from the University of Waikato in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Mohseen's cross-disciplinary PhD thesis drew upon the agronomic, ecological, and social sciences to analyze the current crisis in the Fijian sugar industry. It focused particularly on the livelihood crisis faced by smallholder sugarcane growers and explored the potential of local and traditional farming knowledge to address this crisis. Mohseen also holds a M.Sc in Environmental Sciences from Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, India, a Post Graduate Certificate in Tertiary Teaching, and a B.Sc in Environmental Science from the University of the South Pacific. Before joining the UNDP, Mohseen worked as an academic at Fiji National University. [Correction added on 07 January 2021, after first online publication: Author biography section has been added.]

Media narratives play a crucial role in framing marine conservation dilemmas by depicting human actors, such as fish consumers or the fishing industry, as responsible for negative effects of their actions on species and ecosystems. However, there is little evidence documenting how such narratives affect preferences for reducing bycatch. Behavioral science research shows that people can act less prosocially when more actors are responsible for a collective outcome (responsibility diffusion effect) and when more victims need to be helped (compassion fade effect); thus, the media's framing of actors and victims may have a significant effect on preferences. We conducted the first test of responsibility diffusion and compassion fade in a marine context in an online experiment (1548 participants in the United Kingdom). In 9 media narratives, we varied the type of actors responsible for fisheries bycatch (e.g., consumers and industry) and victims (e.g., a single species, multiple species, and ecosystems) in media narratives and determined the effects of the narratives on participants' support for bycatch policies and intentions to alter fish consumption. When responsibility for negative effects was attributed to consumers and industry, the probability of participants reporting support for fisheries policies (e.g., bycatch enforcement or consumer taxes) was ∼30% higher (odds ratio=1.32) than when only consumers were attributed responsibility. These effects were primarily driven by female participants. Narratives had no effect on personal intentions to consume fish. Varying the type of victim had no effect on policy support and intentions. Our results suggest that neither responsibility diffusion nor compassion fade automatically follows from increasing the types of actors and victims in media narratives and that effects can depend on the type of outcome and population subgroup.

In the contemporary era dominated by media, communication channels significantly shape citizens’ perception and preparedness for environmental emergencies. Specifically, media narratives about floods contribute significantly to citizens’ comprehension of river conditions, warning systems, and appropriate behaviors for safety. However, if these narratives oversimplify events there is a risk of limiting citizens’ learning, potentially leading to distorted perceptions. Similarly, media descriptions that focus on assigning blame, spotlighting the negligent behavior of infrastructure managers, scientists, politicians, and others, may lead citizens to perceive the event solely because of individual mistakes or violations. This perspective has the potential to foster a sense of citizen disengagement during emergencies, instead of emphasizing the pivotal role that each individual plays in ensuring safety during floods. Moreover, when institutions errors occur, such as inaccurate predictions, public opinion may deem these institutions unreliable, nurturing mistrust. Distrust in institutions negatively affects the communication of risk to the population, risking the cultivation of a heightened sense of autonomy among citizens, which could potentially translate into risky behaviour.In the aftermath of floods, individuals form explanations and beliefs that influence their behavior. Therefore, media narratives should consider multiple factors for a comprehensive understanding.This research aims to investigate whether media descriptions of a flood event in the Marche Region, in Italy, on September 15-16, 2022, exhibit tendencies towards oversimplification of causal factors, individual culpability, signs of institutional distrust, or whether the narratives account for the complexity of the phenomenon through a systemic approach. The event was caused by a severe storm, resulting in injuries and fatalities eight years after a previous flood.This research was conducted in three distinct phases. The initial phase involved the creation of a dataset through an extensive review of narratives provided by the Civil Protection Unit of Marche Region in articles published in both local and national newspapers. In the second phase, various themes were outlined based on the literature covering blame approach, systemic approach, and institutional distrust in the context of natural disasters. A framework organized into four categories was established: 1) simplistic descriptions of causes, 2) inclination to attribute blame to institutions, groups, individuals, 3) indicators of institutional distrust, and 4) systemic and multifactorial perspectives. In the third phase, independent judges were tasked with evaluating the presence of these categories of the framework within the media review. Inter-judge agreement was then calculated to validate the framework, ensuring a thorough analysis of the media narratives surrounding the flood event. We discuss the potential usefulness of the framework for the assessment of media narratives accuracy and as a guide for future accounts of complex natural disasters, for the sake of fostering in citizens a proper representation of the events, an accurate risk perception and, eventually, setting the ground for community resilience.

While it is true that authoritarian rule has reasserted itself across the MENA and that democracy is no longer as appealing to the public as it was in 2011 and 2012, this should not lead to the conclusion that MENA societies have simply returned to pre-2011 situation. Thus, while the authors of this special issue acknowledge important elements of continuity with the pre-2011 period, the articles in this special issue focus on the social and political mobilizations that the uprisings have brought to the fore despite the resilience of authoritarian, patriarchal, sectarian and class structures.

Pandemic prevention and control have become a top priority for local governance. This paper explores the governance logic and patterns in Hubei, Zhejiang, and Henan in China. Under the analytical framework (constituting decision-making and implementation capability, the effectiveness of information dissemination, infrastructural capability, the capability to coordinate horizontal departments and organize civil society, the capability to deliver services, and professional and innovative capability), governance behaviors embody different governance logics. Hubei embodies a traditional administrative-led bureaucratic system, Zhejiang realizes an inclusive public governance logic that relies on professionalism and innovation, and Henan exhibits a typical grassroots mobilization governance model based on mass participation. Speed, transparency, penetration, breadth, warmness, and intensity should be reflected in local officials’ behavior. Local governments are required to be given sufficient decision-making space, local administrative agencies and officials are required to have professional qualities and skills, and local governance should be understood under a new comparative path that explicitly incorporates local specificities.

Librarians strive to educate patrons and curb the spread of disinformation by providing reference services, research consultations, and instruction in information literacy. The Covid-19 pandemic has brought into stark relief deceptive information practices used to further political agendas. We focus on the dissemination of Covid-19 disinformation by the United States government, particularly the Trump White House where the federal pandemic response was centered. The consequences of Covid-19 disinformation produced at the federal level continue, such as Covid-19 denial, distrust in government institutions, distrust in science, and over 570,000 deaths in the U.S. so far. We identify different kinds of deceptive information practices deployed by the executive branch that contributed to an already fraught information ecosystem. We discuss how this affects academic librarians, students, and researchers who work with government information, as well as potential solutions found in information literacy and scholarly communication.

Historical, cultural, and social trauma, along with social determinants of health (SDOH), shape health outcomes, attitudes toward medicine, government, and health behaviors among communities of color in the United States (U.S.). This study explores how trauma and fear influence COVID-19 testing and vaccination among Black/African American, Latinx/Indigenous Latin American, and Native American/Indigenous communities. Leveraging community-based participatory research methods, we conducted 11 virtual focus groups from January to March of 2021 with Black/African American (n = 4), Latinx/Indigenous Latin American (n = 4), and Native American/Indigenous (n = 3) identifying community members in Inland Southern California. Our team employed rapid analytic approaches (e.g., template and matrix analysis) to summarize data and identify themes across focus groups and used theories of intersectionality and trauma to meaningfully interpret study findings. Historical, cultural, and social trauma induce fear and mistrust in public health and medical institutions influencing COVID-19 testing and vaccination decisions in communities of color in Inland Southern California. This work showcases the need for culturally and structurally sensitive community-based health interventions that attend to the historical, cultural, and social traumas unique to racial/ethnic minority populations in the U.S. that underlie fear and mistrust of medical, scientific, and governmental institutions.

China's social mobilization has played a crucial role in public health crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, demonstrating distinct Chinese characteristics. It is necessary to deeply explore and analyze the current status and intrinsic motivations of this social mobilization in order to better harness its potential. Grounded in the motivation-behavior-outcome (goal) incentive process theory, this study takes social mobilization during the COVID-19 pandemic as the research object and employs survey questionnaires to investigate the current status of motivations, behaviors, and outcomes. By integrating the connotations of Chinese culture and values, the study aims to reveal the fundamental drivers behind social mobilization, which point out that the ideology of "self-improvement, family harmony, governing the country, and achieving world peace" and “ integration of nation and family” are basic Chinese characteristic of social mobilization .Subsequently suggestions are provided to address the challenges faced in the social mobilization of crises and enhance its overall efficiency and effectiveness.

Empowerment of the disadvantaged and the marginalised in a society is one of the inherent commitments of meaningful social mobilisation, both in theory and practice. One of the core aspects of social mobilisation is to engage with relations of power and reorganise them in favour of the disadvantaged. For a marginalised group in a community, this requires the capacity to define their goals and the environment or the freedom (to act) to achieve those goals – an aspect referred to in development literature as collective agency. Collective agency transforms into collective action when the interests of several social actors converge and lead to voluntary engagement to achieve a common cause. Community organisations, established through a process of social mobilisation, are increasingly viewed as a mechanism in community development to create collective agency, spur collective action and empower lower-status groups or the disadvantaged.However, some empirical studies conducted to scrutinise the potential of social mobilisation and community development programs have pointed to the risk of strengthening the traditional unequal relations of power instead of challenging them. They have also noted the potential for elite-capture of the spaces created through social mobilisation processes. In these respects, a gap between theory and practice was identified, namely, that the perceptions, viewpoints and experiences of the disadvantaged and the most marginalised at the grassroot level who are directly or indirectly affected by social mobilisation and community development programs are generally underexplored. Moreover, it was also realised that the success of social mobilisation programs is generally measured in terms of input versus output analysis rather than exploring their transformative potential and their impact on the overall power configuration in a social structure. The current research goes some way towards addressing this gap by exploring the relationship between social mobilisation, participation and social change and the processes involved in these strategies in the context of elite-based, tradition-bound and exclusionary decision-making and governance arrangements. The research employed a qualitative case study method and involved document analysis, observation and interviews as instruments to explore and analyse people’s perceptions and experiences in relation to the empowerment potential of a ‘three-tier social mobilisation strategy’[1] spearheaded by the Rural Support Programmes Network (RSPN)[2] in Chitral, a North-western rural district in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Pakistan. The study specifically focused upon whether and how RSPN’s social mobilisation strategy has contributed to re-shaping traditional patterns of elite-based decision-making into more inclusive, participatory and democratic processes for social change.The study findings show that the community spaces created by RSPN do not truly represent the disadvantaged and the marginalised community. Instead, they have emerged as elite-captured formal entities. These organisations are used by their leaders (members of elite groups) for social exclusion of the disadvantaged and as means to conceal persistent power inequalities and to influence broader governance structures to meet their vested interests. Therefore, the empowerment potential of the socio-economic resources invested in or through these spaces was found to be limited.The study findings reveal that certain aspects embedded in the three-tier social mobilisation strategy, such as elite-based recruitment of community activists, project-bounded social activism and savings-focused community participation, allow members of elite groups to re-institutionalise their power. This, in turn, enables elites to capture new institutional spaces created by RSPN. The study found that outright capture of newly created community spaces by elites, the concentration of development funds in these organisations together with the ‘civic habitus’ shaped as a result of the people’s lived experiences of oppression, marginalisation and social exclusion, lead them to comply with the regime of power strategically – a phenomenon referred to as ‘strategic compliance’ in this study. The study findings further show that these conditions encourage the elites to extend their power both within the three-tiered organisational structures (provided by RSPN) and beyond, into external spaces such as local and District Council offices and even into provincial and federal parliaments.Overall, I conclude that intermittent, resource-focused mobilisation, bounded by project targets framed around limited tangible outcomes as goals of community development, is not only open to elite-capture but may provide institutional frameworks (organisational structures and processes) favourable to elites, further amplifying social exclusion of the less-powerful, as well as reproducing traditional relations of power and, ultimately, hindering future prospects for social change.[1] The term refers specifically to the RSPN strategy and any subsequent use of the term in the text will be in that context.[2] RSPN (http://www.rspn.org/) is a development network of ten member Rural Support Programmes (RSPs), operating independently, espousing a common approach to development centred upon social mobilisation. Throughout the thesis I distinguish between RSPN (the organisational network) and individual or multiple RSPs, as appropriate. ​​​​​​​

This article reflexively reviews methods for training researchers developed during a national studying of thriving congregations in the United States during the covid-19 pandemic (2020-2022) as a case study on doing digital ethnography (ethnography that uses digital methods to study and engage critically with digital culture). The article outlines the importance of digital culture (expressions of identity offline are not separate from online formation; see Campbell 2012) and digital dualism (outmoded assumptions about binaries between online/offline spaces; see Jurgenson 2011) for doing digital ethnography, and argues that as long as digital dualism lurks not only among congregations, but also within researchers and their methodologies, it undermines knowledge of congregations. Therefore, the article develops the concept of digital reflexivity (the interrogation of one’s own digital cultural experiences, identities, and power, in tension with one’s relationships), arguing for its usefulness for ethnographic studies of congregations, practices of congregational ministry, and theological education.

Extant research on how innovations diffuse among news organizations over time has largely focussed on democratic contexts. By contrast, this is the first longitudinal study to investigate the spread of a participatory newsroom innovation under authoritarian rule. Adopting a multiple case study design, the article reconstructs the histories of comment sections on the opinion-leading online media in two authoritarian contexts, which varied maximally with regard to the outcome of the diffusion process. In Belarus, the diffusion process followed a classic S-shaped curve of adoption, whereas in Azerbaijan adoption rates remained low during the studied period. The study identified primarily three factors that obstructed the diffusion process in Azerbaijan: (1) the restrictive policy of the authoritarian leadership specifically towards audience participation on news websites (social system), (2) the low intensity of communicative exchange between local and foreign news organizations (communication channels), (3) the advent of the successor technology in 2010 (time).

Introduction

PurposeThe purpose of this research is to explore how an industry is represented in multimodal public media narratives and to explore how this representation subsequently affects the formation of public sense-giving space during a persisting crisis, such as a pandemic. The question asked is: how do the use of multimodality by public service media dynamically shape representations of industry identity during a persisting crisis?Design/methodology/approachThis study made use of a multimodal approach. The verbal and visual media text on the restaurant industry during the COVID-19 pandemic that were published in Finland by the public service media distributor Yle were studied. Data published between March 2020 and March 2022 were analysed. The data consisted of 236 verbal texts, including 263 visuals.FindingsThree narratives were identified– victim, servant and survivor – that construct power relations and depict the identity of the restaurant industry differently. It was argued that multimodal media narratives hold three meaning making functions: sentimentalizing, juxtaposing and nuancing industry characteristics. It was also argued that multimodal public service media narratives have wider implications in possibly shaping the future attractiveness of the industry and organizational members' understanding of their identity.Originality/valueThis research contributes to sensemaking literature in that it explores the role of power – explicitly or implicitly constructed through media narratives during crisis. Furthermore, this research contributes to sensemaking literature in that it shows how narratives take shape multimodally during a continuous crisis, and how this impacts the construction of industry identity.

This paper presents insights on conducting urban research amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, emphasizing the adoption of digital ethnography as an innovative and flexible approach. Drawing from an expanding body of literature on fieldwork among 'hard-to-reach' populations during crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, we share our experiences from a study on the socio-economic impacts of mandatory lockdowns on poor urban residents in Harare, Zimbabwe. Our research highlighted several methodological benefits of digital ethnography, including its non-intrusive and non-intimidating nature, cost and time efficiency, ability to increase participant diversity, assurance of respondent safety, research flexibility, and the generation of impactful data. Unlike traditional immersive ethnography, digital ethnography proved adept at navigating the complexities of the 'global', 'local', and 'trans-local' dimensions of contemporary urban research subjects. However, this approach also presents several ethical challenges. These challenges include obtaining informed consent, ensuring confidentiality and anonymity, participants' potential misunderstanding of the research context, the risk of exacerbating stress during crises, and respecting privacy in digital spaces. Urban researchers must carefully consider these ethical issues before undertaking their studies. In conclusion, virtual environments have become integral to modern life and represent essential avenues for urban researchers, particularly during periods of limited physical interaction and when studying populations that are difficult to reach in person but more accessible online. Further, the adoption of digital ethnography, extends beyond the necessity imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. It reflects an ongoing evolution in ethnographic practices, adapting to the realities of a digitally connected world. We suggest that urban researchers should think of digital ethnographic ethics from the point of view of reciprocal and mutual collaboration with participants. With this thinking, urban research subjects become co-participants and co-researchers rather than subjects of exploitation in the expanding and complex digital space.

The applicability of liberal governance models in authoritarian contexts has been widely debated. This study contributes to this debate by using a Foucauldian analytic of apparatuses of security to understand how Chinese state actors used the liberalization of agricultural markets to indirectly mitigate against the risk of droughts. Apparatuses of security, which rely on indirect governance through market and biopolitical mechanisms, were proposed by Foucault to explain the emergence of governmentality in liberal states. The Chinese state has been described as a system of fragmented authoritarianism, wherein state actors are isolated from and compete with one another. Food policy in the early People’s Republic of China extended this isolation to the point of encouraging local autarky at the county level. Around the year 2000, local officials in northwest China began promoting the replacement of subsistence agriculture with drought-resistant commercial agriculture as a means of mitigating against drought. This shifted the source of risk of food shortfalls from an environmental risk of drought to a state-mediated market risk and displaced the long-standing model of local autarky providing food security. By illustrating the dynamics of how Chinese state actors govern nature through market mechanisms, this study contributes to theorizations of how liberalization can function to govern nature in authoritarian contexts. Key Words: apparatuses of security, China, drought, governmentality, water–food security.