Distrust & Ebola: The Importance of Trust in Peacebuilding at the Example of the Ebola Outbreak in Liberia

In recent years, the field of peacebuilding has gained input from a growing number of disciplines. While the resulting holism emphasised the importance of reconciliation to establish sustainable peace, it also highlighted unexplored research gaps—in particular the importance of trust and social capital in post-conflict social relations (Cox, 2009). This talk will address this gap and argue that trust in both strangers and public authorities is crucial for stability in moments of crisis, such as ebola—particularly in fragile post-conflict states. The project is based on ethnographic fieldwork in peri-urban Liberia (February-April 2014) and applies a multidisciplinary analysis from the fields of Human Security, Peace & Conflict Studies, Political Sciences, and Anthropology. A brief outline of Liberia’s history (i.e., its founding, war years, and reconciliation process) will provide the backdrop for the unfolding of the current ebola outbreak and the role of trust within it. I will argue that a historically-manifested public distrust towards government authorities has made the government's response to the virus unfruitful and led to its increased spread. By examining the role of distrust in the spread of ebola, this project seeks to underline the importance to integrate trust building in reconciliation processes.

Theresa Ammann