Episode 3

One of the most important aspects of tremendous upheaval, is a look at how communities come through it. When we peak back on past crisis, we are always curious about what living, breathing people did. We often like to imagine pictures of solidarity, of people standing arm and arm to fight off big threats. When Laurel and Gauravi considered the question of wether or not communities in Mumbai and Houston came together, our immediate reaction was; maybe a little bit in Mumbai, not really in Houston. Operating under this broader assumption, we began to look at our interviewee’s stories. What began to emerge was a rather more complicated picture. 

First, it seemed obvious that our initial assumption about Mumbai, was mostly correct. Mumbai is a city known for always ‘coming together’, through annual floods, terrorist attacks, riots and many other things. Built on diversity, Mumbai prides itself for always standing up for one another. It seemed that the COVID pandemic and the lockdown had shown a similar results, with communities mobilising to volunteer and provide aid. Houston, on the other hand, was a city that was usually used to coming together, through hurricanes and other natural disasters. There was a sense of disappointment that the same solidarity was not on display.

 Certain considerations do inform both contexts; in Mumbai, what to do if one wants to offer aid seemed pretty clear. In a city with such tremendous disparity, assisting people with basic needs is always important during any crisis. It was not that different during COVID. In this episode, we hear from a few of our respondents on how immediately people feel compelled to jump into action. However, a question comes up; why is there so much disparity in the first place? Why are some communities so differently affected by the very same crisis? The issues highlighted during the pandemic seem more systemic, then extraordinary. But in Mumbai, tackling the root causes of systemic issues isn’t quite at the top of the agenda. 

In Houston, there are certainly parallels to be drawn. Certain communities in Houston too are disproportionately affected by the pandemic. What our analysis lead us to realise is that Houtonians and other communities in the United States, mobilised in a very different way to challenge systemic inequalities. As we quickly realised, the recent rallying in support of the Black Lives Matter movement was the example of how Houston had mobilised and come together. 

In this episode, we consider the juxtaposition of the two different kinds of mobilisation. We question the differences between what it means to provide temporary aid vesus the strife and often violence required to undo systemic inequalities.  We consider how social scientists are often faced with the impossible challenge of figuring out solutions to wicked problems, that rarely have a clear path and certainly never a clear solution at the end of that path.