Contesting the crisis narrative: Epidemic accounts in Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Democratic Republic of Congo

In the early months of COVID-19 pandemic, scientists and global commentators watched African countries closely, predicting an impending disaster as the virus was projected to overwhelm already weak health systems. These expectations were informed by imaginaries of Africa as an inevitable site of epidemic disaster. This paper draws on accounts in Tanzania, Sierra Leone and Democratic Republic of Congo to contrast global catastrophe framings with everyday imaginations and experiences of crisis and crisis management. Drawing on ethnographic research, we explore how COVID-19 was understood in relation to previous epidemics, from HIV to Ebola, as well as political conflict. We then consider how global crisis narratives both inform and sit in tension with everyday collective and personal experiences. The paper brings these empirical reflections in conversation with theoretical debates around the discursive construction of crisis and its effects, and argues that these tensions matter because crisis framings have consequences.