What Crisis Produces: Dangerous Bodies, Ebola Heroes and Resistance in Sierra Leone

This article explores the implications of framing an event as a ‘crisis’ through the case study of theEbola epidemic in Sierra Leone, based on extensive ethnographic fieldwork during and after theoutbreak. It traces how Ebola came to be declared an emergency, and the processes, which led to itsdefinition as a ‘threat to international peace and security’. Secondly, it highlights the consequences ofthis framing, as particular interpretations of the roots of the emergency drew a line between ‘good’citizens willing to adapt and ‘dangerous’ ones needing to be contained. Finally, it turns to anethnographic portrait of a traditional healer’s attempts to navigate the crisis by appropriating theknowledge produced by the response apparatus. Considering how those at the receiving end of policydiscourses strategically reposition themselves in relation to the narratives that frame them, can help usquestion the reductive dichotomy between adaptation to and resistance against interventions.