Epidemics in Refugee Settlements.An Ethnogrpahic exploration of 'Preparedness' in Palabek Refugee Settlement, Northern Uganda,during times of COVID-19

To address the threat of emerging infectious diseases, there is a growing focus on 'preparedness'. This concept, however, remains ambiguous. Global framings foreground biomedical approaches, favouring technical and scientific solutions, often based on probabilistic knowledge and quantifiable risk. Anthropological approaches to epidemics shed light on social, economic, political, and historical dimensions shaping epidemics, and the multiple ways in which these dimensions influence response efforts. They open up the question: 'preparedness for what, and for whom?' and reveal how complex 'contexts' can be seen as a source of histories, ideas and practices that could inform 'preparedness'.

This project explores 'preparedness' in a refugee settlement, paying attention to the connections and disconnections between global framings, biomedical approaches and perspectives from refugees. Preparedness is considered as any set of ideas or practices that relate to epidemics and the uncertainty surrounding them: past, present or anticipated; and the way in which they are revealed in global policies, biomedical practices, and importantly, among people themselves in their day-to-day-lives.

Between April 2021 and May 2022, twelve months of anthropological research was carried out during the COVID-19 pandemic, in and around Palabek Refugee Settlement in northern Uganda, which hosts mainly South Sudanese refugees. Ethnographic methods were used to develop specific research skills in anthropology. The methods used included living with a South Sudanese family and participating in daily life amongst refugees, and participant observation and informal conversations within health facilities and amongst humanitarian actors. In addition, 148 semi-structured interviews were conducted amongst refugees, Ugandan 'host community', and humanitarian actors working in settlement, regional, and national positions. The thesis will make a conceptual impact, providing a detailed exploration of the numbers, politics, people and practices that contribute to understanding 'preparedness' in refugee settlement, during a global pandemic, aligning with the ESRC's priority of understanding the impact of COVID-19.

Key Words: Epidemic, Preparedness, Refugee, ethnography, COVID-19