INSTITUTION :.

:UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI
COLLEGE. :HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES

SCHOOL :FACULTY OF ARTS

DEPARTMENT. :DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY

COURSE. :INTRODUCTION TO ANTHROPOLOGY

TOPIC :CULTURAL EFFECTS OF COVID-19

INSTRUCTOR :JOSEPH KABIRU

TASK :ASSIGNMENT

NAME OF STUDENT :NZOMO ELIJAH MUTUA

REGISTRATION NUMBER :C01/0266/2019

SUBMISSION DATE. :13th August 2020

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ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 pandemic is considered as the most crucial global health calamity of the century

and the greatest challenge that the humankind faced since the 2nd world war.In December,a new

infections respiratory disease emarged in Wuhan,Hubei province China and was named by the

World Health Organisation as COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019).A new class of coronavirus

known as SARS-COV-2(severe acute respiratory Syndrome coronavirus 2) has been found to be

responsible occurrence of this desease.As far as the history of human civilization is concerned

there are instances of severe outbreaks of disease caused by a number of viruses.According to the

report of World Health Organisation on 18th April,2020,the current outbreak of COVID-19 has

affected over 21641111 people and killed more than 146,198 people in more than 200 countries

worldwide.This paper describes the impact of COVID-19 on culture of the society.

INTRODUCTION

The effects of coronavirus are having a devastating impact on health services around the

world.Beyond the immediate threat to life COVID-19 is also laying waste to the cultural

schedule, forcing cancellation and suspension s of some of society’s biggest cultural

events.Schools are closed in many affected countries,and people cannot gather to significant

cultural and common events such as religious services, weddings or funerals.At commencement

of this statement,the committee extends its sympathy to all victims of the pandemic and their

families as well as the border communities of which they are part.

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MUSIC DELAYS AND CANCELLATION

Major concerts and festivals such as Glastonbury festival have been Cancelled..In South

Korea,K-kop concerts have been suspended while country to country,which is normally held in

three separate locations (London, Glasgow and Dublin)has been postponed.

In the sporting world,Euro 2020 has been put on hold for a year and all footballing fixtures put

on hold until further notice.The Japanese government still insist the Tokyo Olympics will go

ahead, although it looks more in doubt with every new announcements of travel bans and closed

borders.

Green Day are among the musical artists who have moved to postpone tour date

Most recently, Eurovision has announced its intention to suspend-for the first time -the 2020

edition of the beloved pop competition until next year.Also some musicians and composers were

able to use the time to create new works,there were flow on effects on the many supporting

people who relied on performers for their income and several album release were delayed as

well.

MOVIE INDUSTRY

The Chinese premiere of the new Bond film “No Time to Die” was cancelled,along with the

planned accompanying red-carpet tour.Sonic the Hedgehog, Little women and 1917 are also

among those who Chinese Premieres have been delayed with no indication of when they will go

ahead.The uncertainty of how long it will take to contain the virus has been a huge knockback to

the film industry.It is true that these are big-budget films, having the backing of film studios and

access to large amounts of money,but when the investment in a film is not recouped in tickets

sales,this can quickly affect the budget for further productions.Future tickets sales could even be
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increased to recover losses but as people may be reluctant to pay more,the losses could have a

negative impact on the future of the film industry.

The television industry has been similarly affected.Netflix have announced the suspension of all

production, while the BBC has put it’s dramas on hold, including suspending EastEnders for the

first time in the soap's history.As cinema and movie theatre closed,the global box office dropped

by billions of dollars, streaming became more popular and the stock of film exhibition dropped

dramatically.Many blockbusters originally scheduled to be released were postponed or cancelled

around the world with film production also halted.In response there were intensive efforts to

provide alternative or additional services through digital platforms,to maintain essential activities

with minimal resources to document events themselves through new acquisition and

simultaneously an awareness that there would be many new creative works which has been

inspired by the event.

LARGE SCALE GATHERINGS

Large scale gatherings of over 500 people have been banned in New York while gatherings of

over 250 have been prohibited in Seattle.In Kenya and other parts of the globe institutions such

as Churches and Schools have been shut until further notice due to the outbreak of

COVID-19.These institutions includes large scale gatherings and hence such gatherings are

banned such institutions could not go on with their operations.Many people in the world have

chosen to self isolate or avoid large scale gatherings.This has led to many events being cancelled

or postponed.
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Many people working in the arts rely on these events for a large portion of their income or to

supplement their freelance earnings.How government respond now to the closing of venues and

media production could determine their future prospects once the virus is under control.

WRITING AT RISK

It is well known that literary festivals are a vital source of income for authors across the

globe.Yet book festivals have suspension across-the-board.

This year’s Oxford Literary Festival has been cancelled along with the London Book fair .

Meanwhile the strand Bookstore in New York has also been shut down.

BURIAL CEREMONIES

People in the society have been affected by coronavirus culturally in the field of rights of

passage.When one passes away in the society there is ceremony held in honour of deceased

before he/she is buried.This culture has been affected since such ceremonies are attended by

large mass of people and government has prohibited large scale gatherings in all parts of

country.This has led to a small number of people attending the function and indeed only

family.Again patients who die from Coronavirus are buried by the government on government

land as opposed to the cultural heritage.

ART GALLERIES
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Some art galleries rely on both funding and paintings being sold,in order to remain open.With

people self isolated because of COVID-19,this cause a reduction in the number of any ticket

sales,art sales or people attending associated events might have brought in much needed cash.

We have seen high-profile art galleries and museums shutter their doors in recent days including

the Wellcome Trust,the V and A and the Tate Galleries.In New York all museums including the

legendary MOMA art gallery have closed indefinitely.

TOURISM

Travel helps open the doors to intercultural exchange and leads to greater understanding of our

shared human story.Encountaring with living heritage,built heritage and natural heritage.Since

the air travel to outside country is banned culture heritage is highly affected.As a consequence of

lack of tourists paying for food more than 1000 elephants in Thailand risk starvation.In countries

wildlife tourism represent a significant portion of employment such as Tanzania and

Namibia,there is concern that a loss of jobs related to conservation will see a rise in poaching

while animal in wildlife reserves began roaming into areas recently vacated by tourists.

AQUARIA AND ZOOS

The impact of pandemic has been an uniquely serious crisis for some zoo-with reduced revenues

for the operators but also reduced opportunities for stimulation of some animals.In order to

maintain physical distancing but also still care for the animals some zoo keepers began living

on-site at certain zoos.In absence of visitors some institutions launched new webcams of animal
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habitats as well as feeding sessions or took some animals such as penguins to visit other animal

enclosures.

ADAPTATION

Facing atleast several weeks of closure of their buildings and public accessible spaces, directors

noted several immediate trends emerging.The simultaneously closure of the cultural sector and

home isolation of much of the public led to a highlighted desire for people to obtain access to

and take comfort from culture right at the moment when it was least accessible to them Many

cultural sector organisations and individuals artists turned to providing online activities from

social media to virtual reality as a way to continue fulfilling their organisational missions and

obtain or retain an audience.

LIBRARIES AND ARCHIVES

Libraries and archives faced different situation from maintaining full service with some

restrictions through providing minimal services to complete closure.The Institute of Museums

and Libraries Services noted that the risk of coronavirus transmission from paper was low

therefore International Federation of Library Association noted that some libraries has imposed a

wait period before handing returned books,while others have made it clear that no-one is

expected to return borrowed books until things return to normal.Many public libraries cancelled

programs which would see people spend longer period together.Other closed public reading

rooms or only allowed people to collect requested books on appointment,with a drive-through or

proving delivery service to especially vulnerable community groups.Meanwhile the Kenya

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National Library Service computer lab has been converted to become the Taita Taveta County

data entry and analysis center for COVID-19 tests

LEARNING IN SCHOOLS

Coronavirus has impacted the field of learning largely, school in Kenya have been closed due to

outbreak of coronavirus.More so not in only in Kenya in other countries Schools have been

closed till further notice.To respond to this teachers and lecturers have found way in which they

will be able to finish their syllabus.Most of universities in Kenya have turned into online

teaching so as to facilitate their lecturer.Since not all students can afford data bundles to stream

classes institutions have partnered with some mobile network providers to provide data to

students so as to stream classes during the pandemic.Students and lecturers have smoothly

adapted this form of learning in response to COVID-19.

CLOSURE OF CHURCHES

Due to social distancing worshiping places have been shut and this has hindered the culture of

society.People in the society have their set a side day to worship God,and due to closure of

Churches due to outbreak the society has managed to introduce a way o worshiping while at

home.Some people are streaming online to listen to their pastors it other pastor as they preach

online as form of worshiping.Others are organising family worship in which they sing,read the

Bible verses and then they pray to God.This form of worship has been adapted by many people

so as to keep themselves closer to their god during this time of coronavirus outbreak.

GENDER INEQUALITY
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The COVID-19 pandemic also threatens to deepen gender inequality as the burden of caring for

children at home and sick or older family members fails disproportionately on women, given the

still deeply embedded gender stereotypes and roles in many societies.In circumstances where

families are in lockdown or quarantine, women may be additionally vulnerable to domestic

violence,and have limited recourse in those circumstances.

RESULTS

As I have discussed above points you can see that COVID-19 pandemic has a great negative

impacts on the culture of society, people have seen their culture got lost and they are forced to

practice other forms of culture related to what they had so as to keep their culture which is 8n

danger of being lost forever.Here the point is that the culture has totally changed in the society

we live in around the world.

CONCLUSION

As this pandemic is continuing to hit the world so hard in the field of culture,it has been a great

fall on this field.Although there are some strategies put across to respond back to the pandemic it

has not fully fitted well to match the culture people had before the pandemic struck.If the

pandemic will not end soon then this field of culture will be affected more than before and even

those strategies put may fall and make culture of society be totally dumb.The question is if thi

pandemic lasts forever or for more than one year will the culture of the society be restored back

to where it was before?and if it will restored how will it cost the society to restore it back?

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