Abstract
In this paper, I draw on decolonial and decolonizing frameworks to understand how COVID-19 is disproportionately devastating Black communities in the United States. I show how COVID-19 continues to harm Black people and their health due to colorblind racism and policies that reinforce structural racism. The paper is organized around three themes. First, I speak about my positionality or where my body/self stands in relation to the COVID-19 crisis. Second, I draw on decolonizing and decolonial theory as a framework to help us understand the psychology of the COVID-19 global crises. Third, I use the concept of coloniality to understand the psychology of racism that is revealed in the pandemic within the United States. I specifically show how Black communities living in St. Louis, Missouri, are carrying the burden of COVID-19 in greater numbers than the White community due to the historically racist policies of the city and municipality. This new crisis of health disparity is a manifestation of an old crisis that has roots in coloniality of racism. Finally, I conclude by offering some brief thoughts about how the decolonial turn offers us an opportunity to reimagine the discipline of psychology.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adams, G., Dobles, I., Gómez, L. H., Kurtis, T., & Molina, L. E. (2015). Decolonizing psychological science: Introduction to the special thematic section. Journal of Political and Social Psychology, 3, 213–238. https://doi.org/10.5964/jspp.v3i1.564.
Bhatia, S. (2002). Orientalism in Euro-American and Indian psychology: Historical representation of ‘natives’ in colonial and postcolonial contexts. History of Psychology, 5, 376–398.
Bhatia, S. (2018). Decolonizing psychology: Globalization, social justice and Indian youth identities. Oxford University Press.
Bhatia, S. (2020, May 20–30). The pandemic is a mirror: Race, poverty, and radical care in times of crisis. (Keynote Address). American University of Paris.
Bhatia, S., & Priya, K. R. (2018a). Decolonizing culture: Euro-American psychology and the shaping of neoliberal selves in India. Theory & Psychology, 28(5), 645–668. https://doi.org/10.1177/0959354318791315.
Bhatia, S., & Priya. K. R. (2018b). From representing culture to fostering ‘voice’: Toward a crtical indigenous psychology. In K.-H. Yeh (Ed.), Asian indigenous psychologies in the global context (pp. 19–46). Palgrave Macmillan.
Bonilla-Silva, E. (2000). Colorblind racism in pandemic times. Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1177/233264922094102.
Bulhan, H. A. (2015). Stages of colonialism in Africa: From occupation of land to occupation of being. Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 3, 239–256. https://doi.org/10.5964/jspp.v3i1.143.
Christopher, J. C., Wendt, D. C., Marecek, J., & Goodman, D. M. (2014). Critical cultural awareness: Contributions to a globalizing psychology. American Psychologist, 69, 645–655.
Cole, T., (May, 2020). We can’t comprehend this much sorrow. New York Times. Retrieved February 5, 2021, from https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/05/18/magazine/covid-quarantine-sorrow.html.
Darwin, C. (1888). The descent of man and selection in relation to sex (Vol. 1). John Murray. (Original work published 1871).
Darwin, C. (1958). The origin of species. New York: Penguin. (Original work published 1859).
Du Bois, W. E. B. (2003). The health and physique of the Negro American. American Journal of Public Health, 93, 272–276.
Fanon, F. (1963). The wretched of the earth (C. Farrington, Trans.). Grove Press. (Original work published 1961).
Fanon, F. (1967). Black skin, white masks (C. L. Markmann, Trans.). Pluto Press. (Original work published 1952).
Galton, F. (1883). Hereditary genius: An inquiry into its law and consequences. D. Appleton.
Gee, G. C., & Ford, L. C. (2011). Structural racism and health inequities: Old directions, new directions. Du Bois Review: Social Science Research on Race, 8, 115–132.
Gordon, C., Johnson, W., Purnell, J., & Rogers, J. (May, 2020). COVID-19 and the color line. Boston Review. Retrieved February 5, 2021, from http://bostonreview.net/race/colin-gordon-walter-johnson-jason-q-purnell-jamala-rogers-covid-19-and-color-line.
Hall, G. S. (1904). Adolescence: Its psychology and its relations to physiology, anthropology, sociology, sex, crime, religion, and education (Vol. 1). D. Appleton.
Henrich, J., Heine, S. J., & Norenzayan, A. (2010). The weirdest people in the world? The Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 33, 61–83.
Jordan, M., & Dickerson, C. (2020, April 9). Poultry worker’s death highlights spread of coronavirus in meat plants. New York Times. Retrieved February 5, 2021, from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/09/us/coronavirus-chicken-meat-processing-plants-immigrants.html.
Kessi, S. (2017). Community social psychologies for decoloniality: An African perspective on epistemic justice in higher education. South African Journal of Psychology, 47(4), 506–516.
Macleod, C., Bhatia, S. & Kessi, S. (2017). Postcolonialism and psychology: Growing interest and promising potential. In C. Willig & W. Rogers (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of qualitative research in psychology (pp. 306–317). Sage.
Macleod, C., Bhatia, S., & Liu, W. (2020). Feminisms and decolonizing psychology: Possibilities and challenges. Feminism and Psychology, 30(3), 287–305.
Maldonado-Torres, N. (2007). On the coloniality of being: Contributions to the development of a concept. Cultural Studies, 21(2–3), 240–270. https://doi.org/10.1080/09502380601162548.
Mignolo, W. D. (2007). Introduction: Coloniality of power and de-colonial thinking. Cultural Studies, 21(2–3), 155–167. https://doi.org/10.1080/09502380601162498.
Misra, G., & Gergen, K. J. (1993). On the place of culture in psychological science. International Journal of Psychology, 28, 225–243.
Ndlovu-Gatsheni, S. J. (2020). Geopolitics of power and knowledge in the COVID-19 pandemic: Decolonial reflections on a global crisis. Journal of Developing Societies, 1–24. https://doi.org/10.1177/0169796X20963252.
Owusu-Bempah, K., & Howitt, D. (2000). Psychology beyond western perspectives. British Psychological Society Books.
Pilkington, E. (2020). Turn back this wave of hate’: 100 writers call for an end to anti-Asian hostility. The Guardian. Retrieved https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/25/asian-american-writers-trump-coronavirus.
Quijano, A. (2000). Coloniality of power, Eurocentrism, and Latin America. Nepantla: Views from South, 1(3), 533–580.
Ratele, K., Cornell, J., Dlamini, S., Helman, R., Malherbe, N., & Titi, N. (2018). Some basic questions about (a) decolonizing African(n)-centered psychology considered. South African Journal of Psychology, 48(3), 331–342. https://doi.org/10.1177/0081246318790444.
Rich, A. (1986). Blood, bread and poetry. Norton Publishers.
Richards, G. (1997). “Race”, racism and psychology: Towards a reflexive history. Routledge.
Spencer, H. (1969). Social statics or the conditions essential to human happiness specified and the first of them developed. Augustus M. Lelley. (Original work published 1851).
Santos, B. D. S. (2014). Epistemologies of the south: Justice against epistemicide. Taylor & Francis.
Taylor, Y. K. (2020, April 16). The Black Plague. The New Yorker. Retrieved February 5, 2021, from https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/the-black-plague.
The Hindu. (May 2020). Image of a weeping Rampukar Pandit becomes symbol of India’s migrant worker tragedy. Retrieved February 5, 2021, from https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/rampukars-tears-shock-humanity/article31609524.ece.
United Nations Population Fund. (2014). Annual Report. Retrieved February 5, 2021, from http://www.unfpa.org/annual-report.
Watkins, M. (2019). Mutual accompaniment and the creation of the commons. Yale University Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Bhatia, S. (2021). The Pandemic is a Mirror: Decolonizing Psychology and Racism in Times of COVID-19 Crisis. In: Strasser, I., Dege, M. (eds) The Psychology of Global Crises and Crisis Politics. Palgrave Studies in the Theory and History of Psychology. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-76939-0_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-76939-0_4
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-76938-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-76939-0
eBook Packages: Behavioral Science and PsychologyBehavioral Science and Psychology (R0)