Molly Bolick Explores Community Perception of COVID Risk in Nation’s “Scenes from a Pandemic”

Folklorist Molly Bolick discusses the intersection of folklore and COVID-19 in New Hampshire as part of The Nation’s “Scenes From a Pandemic” series. She alludes to Diane Goldstein’s work on AIDS narratives in the Canadian Maritimes, writing, “[Goldstein] argues that the process of telling AIDS legends—stories that distance the teller from populations identified as ‘at risk’—takes over and fills the gap where expert perceptions of health do not seem to make cultural sense in context. Understanding community perceptions of risk, she writes, is essential for ‘understanding attitudes toward risk at the very core of health care.’” For more, check out the full article.

Mary Bolick, “‘Why Tell Me That We’re Safer Here?’” The Nation (October 29, 2020): https://www.thenation.com/article/society/covid-rural-communities/