Prelims

Half Title Page

Systemic Inequality, Sustainability and COVID-19

Series Title Page

Research in Political Sociology

Series Editor: Barbara Wejnert

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Editorial Advisory Board

Title Page

Research in Political Sociology Volume 29

Systemic Inequality, Sustainability and COVID-19

Edited by

Seela Aladuwaka

Alabama State University, USA

Barbara Wejnert

University at Buffalo, SUNY, USA

And

Ram Alagan

Alabama State University, USA

United Kingdom – North America – Japan – India – Malaysia – China

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Howard House, Wagon Lane, Bingley BD16 1WA, UK

First edition 2022

Editorial matter and selection © 2022 Seela Aladuwaka, Barbara Wejnert and Ram Alagan. Published under exclusive licence by Emerald Publishing Limited.

Individual chapters © 2022 the authors. Published under exclusive licence by Emerald Publishing Limited.

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No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without either the prior written permission of the publisher or a licence permitting restricted copying issued in the UK by The Copyright Licensing Agency and in the USA by The Copyright Clearance Center. Any opinions expressed in the chapters are those of the authors. Whilst Emerald makes every effort to ensure the quality and accuracy of its content, Emerald makes no representation implied or otherwise, as to the chapters' suitability and application and disclaims any warranties, express or implied, to their use.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-80117-733-7 (Print)

ISBN: 978-1-80117-732-0 (Online)

ISBN: 978-1-80117-734-4 (Epub)

ISSN: 0895-9935 (Series)

Dedication

With thanks, the editors dedicate this volume to COVID-19's essential workers, including medical personnel and our children, Sandhu, Camille, and Cyprian.

List of Figures and Tables

About the Contributors

Seela Aladuwaka is an Associate Professor of Geography at Alabama State University and serves as a member of the W.E.B. DuBois Honors Program Advisory Board at Alabama State University. Seela is a past recipient of the Fulbright Scholarship at the American University, Washington DC, where she had earned a Master's Degree in International Development. Her research focuses on Regional Geography, Gender and Development, poverty and microfinance, and poverty and health disparity, including health disparity in Alabama's Black Belt region. She has conducted research for nearly 25 years in Social Geography. She has published 23 papers in peer-reviewed academic journals and books, including most recently on (1) A Geospatial Analysis of Superfund Sites, Ethnicity and Poverty in Alabama in FRONTIERS in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, Alabama State University, 2019; and (2) Women, Micro-Finance, and Repayments Challengers: Sri Lankan Experience. A Handbook of Gender and Development. Ed. Anne Coles, Leslie Gray, and Janet Momsen, London: Routledge, 2015. She is also a co-editor of Environment, Politics, and Society, a special volume of the Research in Political Sociology, published by Emerald Press in 2018.

Ram Alagan is a Professor of Geography and the Interim Director of the W.E.B. DuBois Honors Program at Alabama State University. Dr Alagan's research focuses on GIS, Civil Rights GIS, Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), Social Impact Assessment (SIA), Regional Studies and Heath Disparity, and Cancer Mapping. As a researcher and educator, Ram is a human-environmental geographer by training with more than 25 years of experience in GIS, Participatory GIS (PGIS), EIA, SIA, and regional development. During the last six years at ASU, he has been heavily involved in Health Disparity, Cancer, and Environmental Justice research using GIS and PGIS in minority communities (African American) in the Black Belt regions of the Southeastern United States. He has published and presented his research widely, including six coauthored recent publications. The two most recent coauthored publications are (1) A Geospatial Analysis of Superfund Sites, Ethnicity and Poverty in Alabama in FRONTIERS in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, Alabama State University, 2019; and (2) Empowering the Disempowered through Civil Rights Geographic Information Systems: The Case of Black Belt Region of Alabama. 25th Volume of Research in Political Sociology: Environment, Politics, and Society, Emerald Publication. Ram was a Fulbright Scholar to Ohio University, Athens, OH in 1994–1996.

Aristoteles Alencar received his medical degree at the University of Amazonas and his PhD in Public Health from the University of Sao Paulo. He is a Robert Wood Johnson Fellow – a training through which he learned about healthcare systems and community health problems in several countries in South America and in the United States. He is the Past President of the Amazonas Chapter of Partners of the Americas and participated in professional exchanges through which he observed medical treatment at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and in Department of Veteran Affairs facilities. Currently, he is a faculty member of the University of Amazonas Medical School in Manaus and the NIMBioS Foundation of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He has many publications in medical journals in Brazil and the United States. For over 30 years, he has been in private medical practice in Manaus, Brazil, and has witnessed as a clinician, academician, and community leader the severe impact of COVID-19 on the population of the Amazonian region and its healthcare facilities. This recent clinical experience with COVID-19 is detailed and analyzed through a public health framework in his paper, “The other Face of Covid-19.” Dr Alencar's insights into the personal and community outcomes of COVID-19 inform and enrich our analysis of the Chilean situation.

Dariush Boostani is Associate Professor of Sociology in the Social Sciences department, college of literature and humanities at Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, Iran, where he has been a faculty member since 2009. He completed his PhD and undergraduate studies at Shiraz University. His research interest is social problems, women studies, and social identity. One of his methodological interests is qualitative research, especially Grounded Theory. Most of his research has been carried out via this method.

Christie Caruana is a Social Science graduate student with a concentration in Sociology at Troy University. She has a Bachelor's Degree in Social Science as well as a minor in Criminal Justice. She is a graduate assistant for the Department of Anthropology, Sociology, and Criminology focusing on the impact of horticultural programs on nutritional knowledge and food insecurity in women's correctional facilities. She hopes to continue her education through a PhD program in Sociology with a Criminology concentration. Her interests are deviance in society, social inequality within the justice system, the use of the death penalty, and sentencing discrepancies.

Jorge Chuaqui graduated from the University of Chile and received a doctorate in Human Sciences from the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań (Poland). Currently, he is a Professor in the School of Sociology of the University of Valparaiso, Chile. He has more than 70 publications in Sociology. He is the author of the following books (in Spanish): Society, Psychiatry and Schizophrenia (2002), Microsociology and the Global Social Structure (2012), Inclusion in Diversity or Exclusion (2012), Social Structure, Power, and the Individual: A Tribute to Capital of Karl Marx (2019), and Editor of Sociology of Health: Chile (2016). He has been the principal investigator on several funded empirical studies related to mental health in Chile, and he is a member of the Executive Committee of RC-49 of the International Sociological Association. The Chilean Society of Mental Health has awarded him the Dr Luis Custodio Muñoz Prize for his outstanding publication in the Journal of Psychiatry and Mental Health. His areas of interest are the sociology of mental health, social theory, politics of inclusion, and social classes.

Sharon Everhardt is an Associate Professor of Sociology at Troy University. Her main research interests include the study of race, class, and gender, especially disenfranchised populations of women. In 2020, Dr Everhardt earned certification as an AACS Clinical Sociologist who helps organizations and institutions resolve social issues related to the human condition. She is currently researching the impact of horticultural programs on nutritional knowledge and food insecurity among female inmates in women's correctional facilities. She has secured over $75,000 in USDA funding to support her gardens projects.

Sunita George is an Associate Professor of Geography at Western Illinois University. Her research interests are in issues of food ethics and food activism.

Brenda Gill is a mixed-methods prepared family sociologist with a minor concentration in education. She serves as a Professor of Sociology and Associate Dean in the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences at Alabama State University. She received a PhD in her field from Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, in 2009. Her research is applied and centers on family issues such as multiculturalism, diversity, immigration, media, food insecurity, suicide, and violence. Recently she coauthored a publication on African Migrants and Refugees in Latin America and the Caribbean and Sex Trafficking of Girls in Africa, Latin American, and the Caribbean.

Raymond Greene is a Freelance Geographer. He curates The Geo Grapher on Facebook, which aims to make Geographic insights accessible to larger audiences.

Daniela Jauk is Assistant Professor for Sociology and Criminal Justice at the University of Akron, Ohio. She received a Master's Degree in Sociology from the University of Graz in her home country, Austria. She completed her PhD in Sociology as a Fulbright Student at the University of Akron, Ohio in 2013. She is a certified clinical sociologist, and her areas of research interest and teaching are gender and sexualities, inequality in the criminal justice system, and qualitative methods. She is currently working on clinical sociology projects and research around gardening in carceral settings.

Dr Kamalaveni is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Women Studies. Her research focuses on women and health, gender empowerment, reproductive health, and women's empowerment. She has authored one book, published 30 research papers, and co-edited five books. She has guided three doctoral students, attended 25 seminars, workshops, conferences, orientation programs, refreshers courses, and training programs. She also served as a resource in 150 programs and addressed 30,000 college students, 2,500 school students, 1,000 rural women, and 750 college teachers. She has coordinated 20 seminars, conferences, and training programs. She has completed two projects on women farmers and working women problems. Currently she is working on cervical and breast cancer awareness project.

James G. Linn is a Senior Researcher at Optimal Solutions in Healthcare and International Development, and he holds academic appointments at Meharry Medical College and the Autonomous University of Baja, California (Mexico). He is also a Visiting Professor of the University of Valparaiso, Chile, where he annually delivers lectures in the sociology of health care and collaborates with several research projects on health services. He is Past President and current Board Member of the Research Committee 49 (Mental Health and Illness) of the International Sociological Association and serves as an Associate Editor of the JAHR journal that publishes work on global HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment programs. Prof. Linn received a PhD in Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He served two years as a Peace Corps Volunteer doing community and cooperative development in Santo Domingo and the rural Cibao of the Dominican Republic, and since 1987, led funded research and education programs focused on HIV/AIDS, Maternal and Child Health, Mental Health and Climate Change in the U.S., Latin America (Brazil, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Venezuela), and Africa (Botswana, Ghana, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa).

Yashpal Malik is an Associate Director with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Pvt Ltd and a former research associate at Amity Institute of Social Sciences, Amity University, India. He has completed his PhD in the field of Alternate Energy Transport. He works closely with Asian Development Bank on Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) projects. Prior to PwC, he worked with development sector organizations in the area of research, monitoring, and evaluation for national and international development programs in South Asia (India, Nepal, and Bhutan). He has significant experience in sampling surveys, need assessments, project impact assessments, and poverty measurement in various sectors such as education, skill development, livelihood, and socioeconomic projects.

Fattah Hatami Maskouni is a Lecturer in the Department of Geography, University of Tehran. He holds an MS Degree in Remote Sensing and GIS from the University of Tehran (Geography Department). He has also taught Remote Sensing and GIS courses at different local universities as a lecturer. His current research interest is to use remote sensing techniques, GIS, and deep learning to investigate patterns of human behavior with respect to online data, technology, and new cyber movements.

Ligaya Lindio McGovern is a Professor of Sociology at Indiana University, USA. In Fall 2017, she received a Fulbright Fellowship to conduct research on the impact of corporate mining on the indigenous people in the Philippines from August to December. In collaboration with KATRIBU she interviewed 20 indigenous people affected by corporate mining during the Lakbayan (caravan) of the indigenous people in September 2017, where close to 3,000 indigenous people came down to Metro-Manila. With the cooperation of ANNVIK and SAPAKKMI she also visited the open-pit mining site of OceanaGold in Didipio, Kasibu, Nueva Vizcaya. She was able to interview 14 indigenous men and women affected by the mining operations there. This paper is part of a book-length manuscript she has completed from her research that could be useful for the educational and informational campaign.

Manoj Mishra is a Professor of Biological Sciences at Alabama State University. Dr Mishra is the founding Director of Cancer Biology Research and Training and Freshmen Biology Programs at Alabama State University. Additionally, Dr Mishra's Cancer Biology Research and Training lab is currently supported by research and educational grants from the U.S. Department of Defense, National Institutes of Health, and National Science Foundation. He has several awards and recognition for his teaching and research. In 2015, he received the faculty of the year award at Alabama State University, and in 2013, he was selected as a top 25 professor among mid-sized universities in the United States. Dr Mishra has widely published his research findings in international and national medical and science journals. Dr Mishra's research interest focuses on broader areas of immunology, tumor biology, and health disparity in Alabama.

Naima Mohammadi is a Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Padova, Italy. She is studying gender and sexuality issues in the Department of Political Science, Law, and International Studies. Her last research project is associated with the concept of Muslim women's recognition in non-Muslim majority societies. She has also taught some courses in this field, such as “Civil rights of Muslim women,” “Marriage and family under Islamic principles,” and “Muslim circumstances in the Middle East.” Her research interests focus on gender, identity, and the dynamics of Muslim women's movements for recognition.

Andria Moore received her BA in Journalism from Auburn University in 2016. She completed her Master's Degree in 2021 from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communications in Digital Audience Strategy at Arizona State University. She has worked for the International Center for Journalists and has published as a journalist for The Washington Post, Insider, The Lily and the Motion Picture Association. Andria is currently a resident writer at Buzzfeed where she covers a variety of topics, including race, culture, health and wellness, and entertainment.

Muthukuda Arachchige Dona Shiroma Jeeva Shirajanie Niriella, Senior Attorney at Law, is a Professor in the Department of Public and International Law, Faculty of Law, University of Colombo, Professor in Law, Faculty of Law and the Funding Dean of the Faculty of Criminal Justice, General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University Sri Lanka. She is the first female appointed board member of Colombo Stock Exchange, National Authority for the Protection of Victims and Witnesses. She served on several boards including National Research Committee-National Science Foundation, and Prison Welfare Association Sri Lanka. Currently she serves as a Board member of the Office for the National Unity and Reconciliation, Sri Lanka. She holds executive positions in International Associations such as World Centre for Women's Studies; Asian Criminological Society; South Asian Society of Criminology and Victimology; International Society of Criminology; and Justice Commission of Congress of Nations and States. She received the title ‘Desabandu’ National Honour/Award conferred by the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka at the Ceremony of National Honours in 2019.

Nirupama Prakash is currently serving as Director, Amity Institute of Social Sciences, Amity University. Earlier, she served BITS, Pilani as Chief, Women Studies and Societal Development Unit, Founder Director, UGC Centre for Women Studies, Head, Department of Humanistic Studies and Coordinator, MPhil program in Hospital and Health Systems Management. Subsequently, she served as Head, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at JUIT, Himachal Pradesh. She has been invited as a scholar, consultant, guest speaker, and visiting faculty at many national and international forums. Dr Prakash has taught courses on Sociology and Gender Studies at the Department of Sociology and Centre for International Health, the George Washington University, Washington DC, Department of Global Gender Studies, University at Buffalo, SUNY, the University of Maryland at College Park, USA. Apart from teaching, she is an active researcher and has many research papers and books to her credit, and has worked on many projects sponsored by national and international agencies.

Marcia Rossi is a Professor of Psychology at Alabama State University. She received a PhD in Experimental Psychology from Auburn University in 1991 and has over 30 years of teaching and research experience. Her current research interests include social determinants of health, attitudes, knowledge, and behaviors associated with proenvironmental behaviors and acceptance of climate change, and issues of environmental justice. She also studies STEM education interventions, and the effectiveness of various advising and mentoring approaches. She has numerous peer-reviewed publications and has served as PI or CoPI on many interdisciplinary federally funded projects through NSF, DOD, NIH, and other agencies.

Izabela Skórzyńska is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Historical Studies Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan (Poland), post-doctoral studies at Laval University in Québec (Canada). She has published in memory studies, the social history of women in Central and Eastern Europe and didactics of history, and among them in English: Regaining the Future by Rebuilding the Past?. The Question of Intergenerational Transfer and Production of Cultural, Economic and Social Capital by Women in Poland after the Second World War in Marriage & Family Review, 2021/5; with I. Chmura-Rutkowska, E. Głowacka-Sobiech, Unworthy of History? On the Absence and Stereotypical Images of Women Scientists in Light of the Historical Narrative in Middle and Secondary School Textbooks in Studia Edukacyjne, 2019/53; with B. Jonda, C-F. Dobre, A. Wachowiak, (Re)gaining the Future by (Re)building the Past, Women's Narratives of Life under Communism in Poland, Romania and Former East Germany, Poznań 2018; with Ch. Lavrence, Performing the Past, Poznań 2014.

Żaklina Skrenty is a Doctor of Law, Legal Counsel. She acts as an attorney in administrative, civil, and commercial law cases. She specializes in administrative law, including local government law and administrative proceedings. Her scientific and professional interests include medical law and health-related issues, and public safety, which are considered as the most important value of modern man. The multidimensional and multifaceted nature of this concept makes it possible to combine it with legal issues from various fields. Her legal practice includes social benefits, social discrimination, and the quality of life of disadvantaged populations.

Suman is currently working as an Assistant Professor with R.D. College of Education, Haryana, India. Her area of interest is Vocational Education and Training (VET). Prior to joining the college in 2014, she had completed her Master's in Education and Master's in Mathematics.

Jagriti Upadhyaya is Assistant Professor and Head, Department of English and Associate Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Sardar Patel University of Police, Security and Criminal Justice, Jodhpur. Her research areas include Feminism and Queer Studies, Green Studies, Ecocriticism, and Eco-feminism. She has presented her research at International and National Conferences, including Poland, New York, and Rome. She has published over 22 research papers in international and national journals and is a Resource Person for FDPs (Faculty Development Programs) and expert lectures – Jai Narayan Vyas University, Jodhpur; Rajasthan Association for Studies in English, (RASE), University of Jammu, Jammu DRDO, ICAI, TISS, IGNOU.

Manorama Upadhyaya is a Principal at Mahila P. G. Mahavidyala, Jodhpur Rajasthan, India. She holds PhD in History and has 25 years of research and teaching experience. Her research focuses on gender studies, social and cultural studies, specifically in Indian history, science and technology in Indian Sanskrit texts (civil engineering and building technology), water management, and water bodies of ancient and medieval India as regional and military history. Dr Upadhyaya published 26 research papers. For 10 years, she also worked as Programme Officer – National Service Scheme of Government of India.

Barbara Wejnert is a Professor in the Department of Environment and Sustainability and Department of Global Gender Studies and a former founding chair of the Global Gender Studies Department at the University at Buffalo. She is an award-winning author of research papers specializing in political sociology, political economics, economic sociology, environmental sustainability, and gender. Her interdisciplinary, transnational research focuses on the worldwide diffusion of democracy and globalization and the effects of these changes on environmental sustainability and gender equality. ​She is an author and editor of 14 books, including Diffusion of Democracy published by Cambridge University Press in 2014 (paperback edition in 2016) that received nominations for three academic book awards. She is an author of near 70 peer-reviewed articles in professional journals, including award-winning articles. In 2016 she received the prestigious Inaugural Arlene Kaplan Daniels Paper Award for a paper “Turning Globalization and the Diffusion of Democracy into Opportunities for Women and Girls.” Her paper “Diffusion, Development and Democracy, 1800–1999” was honored by its presentation at the US Congressional Reception as a poster highlighting sociological research with national policy significance.

Camille Wejnert-Depue is a graduate student in Johns Hopkins University's MS degree program in Environmental Sciences and Policy, and also a Post-Masters Research Associate with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and University of Maryland's Joint Global Change Research Initiative. He also holds a Master of Public Policy degree with a focus in Environmental Policy from American University in Washington, DC. Camille's current work revolves around decarbonizing the District Heating sector in many European countries. Professionally, Camille has worked as a Fellow with the American Lung Association, a Fellow with Montgomery County Maryland's Office of the Executive's Climate Team, and a Summer Intern with the United States Environmental Protection Agency Office of Air and Radiation.

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