Dhruba Neupane
Covid-19 has exposed us to some of the ugliest realities of our society, most tellingly, existing social and economic inequalities. This time has also put a question mark on the assumed self-superiority, resourcefulness, and preparedness of developed nations to tackle a crisis such as this. Several studies that came out during the pandemic have shed light on racial, political tensions, ecological destruction while also reminding us of our shared globality, shared fate, and future. Especially during the onset of the panic time, conversations were focused on the role of state or region (such as the United States or the European Union) to crisis communicate and to develop control mechanisms (scale up vaccine production, collaborations across nations and regions). However, relatively less attention has gone on how smaller immigrant communities within the Global North have channeled community resources and energies during the time of global panic. This essay takes up the left-out task of paying attention to and learning from an immigrant community in the Global North, namely the Nepali diaspora in Canada. It explores the way the community handled the time of hopelessness, unknowability, stress and anxiety, and racial hatred. It resituates “the rhetorical situation” to map how the community responded to pandemic exigencies. It discusses themes gleaned from the community’s engagements during the pandemic and draws research and pedagogical implications.
