The Effects of the Pandemic: The State, Citizens, and Ways of Communication
Keywords:
Covid Pandemic, Marneuli, Ethnic Minority, State Language, LockdownAbstract
The paper explores the impact of the pandemic on ethnic minorities and how locals perceived the state's response. One of the significant effects of the COVID-19 pandemic was the direct engagement with state institutions, resulting in a novel interaction experience. The pandemic essentially revealed the role of the state during times of crisis, exposing its vulnerabilities and deficiencies. Crucial national decisions were formulated and executed by the state. This study will examine the subject of ethnic minorities in relation to the perception and understanding of the Marneuli and Bolnisi districts across the nation when these areas were designated as quarantine zones due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Furthermore, the paper will analyze the severity of communication and language barriers in regions densely inhabited by ethnic minorities, drawing on James C. Scott's term "legibility" to describe the relationship
between the state and ethnic minority group. Additionally, this paper will address the response of the local population to the stringent measures implemented by the state, such as lockdowns and restrictions. It will explore the methodologies and forms of protest employed by the residents of these districts to express their discontent. The study will also assess the outcomes of these protests and the level of organization they exhibited. Furthermore, an analysis of the strategies adopted by the population to coexist with the pandemic and adhere to state regulations will be conducted
References
Ambebi, A. (May 1, 2020). Women in Marneuli ploughed the land of a Covid-infected family. Radio Liberty.
Ambebi, A. (26 February, 2020). First Covid-infection case recorded in Georgia. Radio Liberty.
Ambebi, A. (22 January, 2020). China warns its population not to visit the city where the virus spread from. Radio Liberty.
Aprimashvili, S. (20 March, 2022). "Not the virus, but hunger will kill us" - the population gathered in front of the City Hall. Netgazeti.
Boshishvili, A. (2020). Ethnic and demographic lendscape of Kvemo Kartli (history and contemporaneity). Tbilisi: TSU.
Club, G. M. (August 1, 2020). How did Marneuli City Hall representatives work during the Covid-pandemic. Retrieved from Time for Self- Government:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78ySwV75coA
Gabulnia, K & Amirejibi, R. (2021). Minorities of Georgia: removing the barriers in integration process. Tbilisi: A joint project by Levan Mikeladze Fund and the European Office of Carnegie Endowment for International Peace - Future of Georgia.
Kunchulia, L. (26 February 2020). Corona-virus: Iran and Italy conditions raise questions in Georgia. Radio Liberty.
Lehtinen M. & Brunila T. (2021). A Political Ontology of the Pandemic: Sovereign Power and the
Lomadze, N., (2020). Letters from Marneuli Villages. Indigo.
Management of Affects through the Political Ontology of War. Front. Polit. Sci. 3:674076. doi: 10.3389/fpos.2021.674076
Mamedli, K. & Chachibaia, K., (2021). Dmanisi Conflict - Ethnic Lines of Mundane Conflict.
Tbilisi: Social Justice Center.
Mamedova, K. (23 April 2020). What causes anti-quarantine protests in Marneuli? Matitashvili, V. (24 February 2020). Situation regarding the Corona-virus - Italy, Iran, China,
South Korea. Publika.
Melikishvili, L. & Janiashvili, L. (2021). The integration of ethnic groups in Kvemo Kartli (Armenia and Azerbaijan). Tbilisi: TSU.
Nyer, P. (2006). The Accidental Citizen: Acts of Sovereignty and (un) Making Citizenship.
Economy and Society 35 (1), 22-41.
OSCE High Commissionare on Ethnic Minorities. (2025). EMC, 1-17.
Participation of ethnic minorities in political life remains a challenge. (2021). Tbilisi: Social Justice Center.
Scott, J. C. (2020). Seeing like a state. Yale University Press.
The research on the participation of ethnic minority representatives in political life. (2019).
Tbilisi: Open Society Georgia Foundation.
Tskipurishvili, N. (6 April 2022). Prosecutor's office enrolled Samira Bayramova in a special protection program. Netgazeti.
Zviadadze, S. & Jishkariani, D., (2018). The problem of identity among Azerbaijanis of Kvemo Kartly.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2023 Tea Kamushadze
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Copyright (c) - Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms: Authors retain copyright and grant the journal the right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 International License, which allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their personal website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (see The Effect of Open Access). Authors may enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to a repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
