Health Communication in Pakistan: Establishing Trust in Networked Multilingualism

Abstract

This case study of covid literacy addresses a vital question about how language practices can reflect and transform social realities to create trust and social capital. Language is central to this exchange, and with the technologically supported affordances of digital social media, users actively co-construct, translate and disseminate information to both known and unknown audiences. However, during the last two and half years of the pandemic crisis so far, information flows from the Global North to the South primarily in English, and is often complemented with conflicting discourses and ambiguous scientific information. Often this information is convoluted in issues related to translations, limited functional literacy, and access to trustworthy resources of knowledge in developing countries of the South. Yet some studies claimed clarity in health literacy in Pakistan’s relatively successful communication campaign during the covid pandemic despite the country’s highly populous status, its multilingual repertoires, and 50% literacy rates. Using Gee’s relationship building tool as a cue, in this chapter I delineate the knowledge, assumptions and inferences embedded in translingual language practices that contribute to trustworthy information. I specifically present findings from an investigation of the literacy practices from a popular Facebook group in Pakistan during the first two episodes of the covid pandemic. The findings demonstrate that trust is embedded in communication comprising an intriguing interplay of languages and digital tools representing the evolving features of contemporary communicative practices among plurilingual English speakers.