This situation calls for an examination of how people react to policy measures that have been introduced, what actions they take on their own initiative over and above the official advice by governments, and why. SolPan+ Latin America covers very heterogeneous societies in Central and South America, which are facing major challenges beyond the pandemic.

Within the SolPan+ Latin America research consortium, founded and launched in May 2020 by Dr. Isabella Radhuber, multi-disciplinary research teams in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela research how the pandemic is affecting the inhabitants of these 15 countries. All our country teams  will conduct in-depth, open interviews with 30-100 participants per country in August - considered the most crucial month for Latin America's reaction to the pandemic. A qualitative longitudinal study design includes "soft comparisons" between countries over a period of at least six months; this allows us to explore the differences and similarities in how, and why, people have reacted to the pandemic and the resulting policy responses.

SolPan+ is part of the SolPan project led by Prof. Barbara Prainsack and Dr. Katharina Kieslich, which is also comprised of 9 European countries. In the current phase of the project the experiences of different world regions will be included to provide a broader understanding of the role of local conditions, responsiveness, access to information and other issues. Given the different geographical and demographic contexts, we expect to find that particular challenges (such as access to public services, significant cultural diversity and stark inequality) affect people’s ability to adapt and mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 crisis.

Lead & contact: Dr. Mag. Isabella Radhuber, isabella.radhuber@univie.ac.at

Further information (in English) | Further information (in Spanish)