'Loob' and 'labas': Spatial constructions of safety and risk amid the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines. (January 2023)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Lasco, Gideon; Tan, Michael L.; Yu, Vincen Gregory
• Is Part Of: Health & place. Volume 79(2023)
• Publication Date: 2023-01
• Subjects: Proxemics -- Indoor spaces -- Outdoor spaces -- Conceptualization of risk -- COVID-19 pandemic -- Philippines; Health -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; Health services accessibility -- Periodicals; Public health -- Periodicals; Political planning -- Periodicals; Social medicine -- Periodicals; Epidemiology -- Periodicals; Health Policy -- Periodicals; Health Services Accessibility -- Periodicals; Public Health -- Periodicals; Public Policy -- Periodicals; Sociology, Medical -- Periodicals; Épidémiologie -- Périodiques; Politique sanitaire -- Périodiques; Santé, Services de -- Accessibilité -- Périodiques; Health services accessibility; Health -- Social aspects; Political planning; Public health; Social medicine; Periodicals; 613
• DOI: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2022.102929
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1353-8292

Abstract

Abstract: This article argues that local constructions of risky and safe spaces, as articulated by the notions ' loob ' (inside) and ' labas ' (outside), informed popular and political responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines, leading to an overemphasis on staying at home and, conversely, a general avoidance or fear of outdoor spaces that was at times reinforced by public health authorities. Practices and policies related to the pandemic response rendered this binary opposition between 'loob' and 'labas' visible, from regulations concerning the use of personal protective equipment to restrictions of access to outdoor spaces. While this emergent form of bodily proxemics was contested and negotiated over time, its tenacity throughout the pandemic underscores the importance of understanding how people spatialize risk in times of health crises. Highlights: Many Filipinos consider indoor spaces safe, and outdoor spaces risky. What counts as indoors or outdoors is embodied but negotiated over time. Cultural understandings of space informed the state's pandemic response. Spatial constructions of risk and safety have perpetuated societal inequity.