Fear time versus science time: discursive disputes over the epidemic of the Zika virus and microcephaly in Brazil

Abstract

This article discusses some of the tensions caused by the friction between distinct temporal regimes associated with an epidemic episode. This text is based on the study of the way information related to the Zika epidemic and microcephaly in Brazil was speeded out during the year 2015-2016. Starting with the context of intense mediatization, as well as of the complex temporality produced by digital communication technologies, we sought to analyze the relationship between human and non-human actors that contributed to the social construction of this epidemy. The focus of the text are the videos produced by the “lay” public who also spread rumors which show likely alternative explanations about the epidemy.