Elizia Volkmann, Oral History Interview, 2023

Title

Elizia Volkmann, Oral History Interview, 2023

Transcript Available

Transcript

Performer

Elizia Volkmann

Interviewer

Dr. You Li

Description

Elizia Volkmann is a British freelance journalist, photographer, and videographer with more than 20 years of experience. Based in Tunisia, Volkmann covers international trade, geo-political economics, and humanitarian issues in the Maghreb and Euro-med regions and North Africa. Her work has been published in the Times, Al-Jazeera, Euro News, the BBC, and AI Monitor, among others. During COVID, Volkmann covered the impact of the pandemic for both Arab-focused English language press and business publications.

In this interview, Volkmann recounted in vivid detail her experiences surviving COVID and enduring Long COVID symptoms while covering politics and the pandemic impact. She lost significant work and income, received no institutional support, and struggled with maintaining mental health and physical health during the pandemic. She commented on the dilemma of being a foreign correspondent stuck overseas. She also recalled incidents of sexism against women in society and harassment against women journalists in the workplace. She called for more organized support to freelancers and to build community connections and mental and physical strengths.

Exact Date

6-12-2023

Subject

Tunisia, freelance journalist, Long COVID, mental health, harassment, misinformation/disinformation, political journalism, gender disparity, organized support, Eastern Michigan University Archives, women in journalism, pandemic, journalism, COVID-19, pandemic

Publisher

Eastern Michigan University Archives

Collection Location

Collective Memory of Women Journalists in COVID-19 on Digital Commons

Run Time

1 hour, 33 minutes, 49 seconds

Language

English

Rights

Copyright to the audio resource and its transcript, headshot, and stories is held by the content creator, author, artist, or other entity, and is provided here for educational purposes only. It may not be reproduced or distributed in any other format without written permission of the copyright owner, Eastern Michigan University Archives (lib_archives@emich.edu).