COVID-19 and the African Disaster That Wasn’t

This chapter looks at the African experience of the COVID-19 pandemic. Through interpreting the wariness shown by Africans toward western humanitarian motivations, the COVAX initiative to reduce vaccination gap, for instance, it claims that the silver lining to Africa’s COVID-19 experience is that this important moment not only debunked the imperialism of western science but also it reveals what can be learned from human vulnerability besides uncritically accepting the ideology of science and technology. Deciding to go the way of intuition rather than follow the fear-mongering predictions of a looming disaster gave Africans back their historical agency and, in some small ways, control and sovereignty over their bodies, discourse, and history. The provisional conclusion invites scholars to initiate further research that will allow an in-depth conversation around the place of meaning in addressing social problems.