Open AccessA War of Words
Author(s) -
Gareth Davey
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of the british association for chinese studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2048-0601
DOI - 10.51661/bjocs.v10i0.105
Subject(s) - misinformation , leverage (statistics) , politics , accountability , political science , public relations , epistemology , china , sociology , positive economics , law and economics , political economy , law , economics , computer science , philosophy , machine learning
This position paper stakes out a potential contribution from Chinese Studies for making sense of political claims about accountability for Covid-19, conspiracy theories, cover-ups, misinformation, public health responses, and vulnerabilities in societies. The broader picture is much more complex than implied in media coverage and official state sources which typically simplify and dramatise the claims with disregard for evidence or comparison of competing perspectives. By drawing on the discipline’s strengths in analysing contemporary China and its internal and external dynamics, Chinese studies can assist in critically examining the claims and their interpretive complexities, as well as the processes through which they have been conceptualised and have come to public attention, an explanatory model with considerable leverage for encouraging more meaningful dialogue.