Overview

Unmasked is the story of what happened in Okoboji, a small Iowan tourist town, when a collective turn from the coronavirus to the economy occurred in the COVID summer of 2020. State political failures, local negotiations among political and public health leaders, and community (dis)belief about the virus resulted in Okoboji being declared a hotspot just before the Independence Day weekend, when an influx of half a million people visit the town. The story is both personal and political. Author Emily Mendenhall, an anthropologist at Georgetown University, grew up in Okoboji, and her family still lives there. As the events unfolded, Mendenhall was in Okoboji, where she spoke formally with over 100 people and observed a community that rejected public health guidance, revealing deep-seated mistrust in outsiders and strong commitments to local thinking. Unmasked is a fascinating and heartbreaking account of where people put their trust, and how isolationist popular beliefs can be in America's small communities.

Full Product Details

Author:   Emily Mendenhall
Publisher:   Vanderbilt University Press
Imprint:   Vanderbilt University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 17.50cm , Height: 2.40cm , Length: 25.10cm
Weight:   0.540kg
ISBN:  

9780826504524

ISBN 10:   0826504523
Pages:   312
Publication Date:   30 March 2022
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.

Table of Contents

A Note on Names Prologue Chapter 1: Global Threats Securitize How Did We Get Here? Chapter 2: Locating Okoboji The Local Response Settlers Middle Ground In-Groups Chapter 3: Opening Up Tourism Walleye Weekend Memorial Day Chapter 4: Outbreak The Bus Incident COVID Bay Chapter 5: Business as Usual Business Decisions Modeling Chapter 6: Shame Do You Care about Me? The Shame of Shutting Down Shaming Trade-Offs Chapter 7: Pin Feathers Logic of Care Enough Chapter 8: Fireworks Fireworks No Spark Chapter 9: Community Tension Masks Tourist Trap Chapter 10: Vaccine Hesitancy Divergent Hesitancies Chapter 11: School Board Corona Coaster Superintendent Disregard of Expertise Chapter 12: Contested Speaking for Popular Belief Endorsing Caution Chapter 13: Saturday Response Chapter 14: Glitch Data Chapter 15: Fear of Missing Out Epilogue

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Author Information

Emily Mendenhall is a professor of global health in the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. She is the author of Rethinking Diabetes: Entanglements of Trauma, Poverty, and HIV and Syndemic Suffering: Social Distress, Depression, and Diabetes among Mexican Immigrant Women and co-editor of Global Mental Health: Anthropological Perspectives.

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