Restoring Faith in the Promise of Healing: Affirmative Presence as a Care Ethic for Post-Covid Medical Distrust

Abstract

This study draws on both an affirmative biopolitical framework and a pastoral framework to propose an effective way of navigating medical distrust from communities found online and throughout the world. I engage with Roberto Esposito’s theorization of ‘community’ and ‘immunity’ in states of exceptional crises to introduce a critique of biopolitical governance by emerging online communities. Through a case study analyzing coded Reddit thread posts worldwide, I explore how these communities perceive and react to the COVID-19 response efforts by the medical field. In giving voice to these perspectives and offering a responsive care ethic of affirmative presence, I argue that restoring faith in the promise of medicine is not only possible, but practically achievable – in both the clinic and the public sphere. In my work, I hope to contribute to improved healthcare communication, management, and administration methods, as well as highlight the utility of affirmative presence in addressing the various forms of skepticism and distrust of conventional healthcare.