VULNERABILTY DURING COVID-19: AN ORAL HISTORY PROJECT

Abstract

This thesis project was based on thirty-five focused interviews with narrators between March and June 2020 about the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated shutdowns. Analysis of these interviews revealed that the story of the early pandemic is not just about a physical illness, but it is also about a pre-existing societal illness. Magnified by the pandemic are underlying failures to meet basic human needs in America. Vulnerable groups such as women, students, individuals experiencing incarceration, victims of domestic violence, and rural populations have borne an unequitable share of the negative impacts of the virus, in large part because our society does not support or protect these, and many other groups appropriately. In these interviews, narrators spoke about their own vulnerability by sharing personal details about their health, their family, and their beliefs, but they also spoke about the larger issues of social justice.