Publications

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Citation details:

Long, N. J., Aikman, P. J., Appleton, N. S., Davies, S. G., Deckert, A., Fehoko, E., Holroyd, E., Jivraj, N., Laws, M., Martin-Anatias, N., Roguski, M., Simpson, N., Sterling, R., Trnka, S., & Tunufa’i, L. (2023). On epidemiological consciousness and COVID-19: Envisioning vulnerability, hazard, and public health policy in Aotearoa New Zealand and the United Kingdom. In S. Abram, H. Lambert & J. Robinson (Eds.) How to live through a pandemic (ch. 2). Routledge.

On epidemiological consciousness and COVID-19: Envisioning vulnerability, hazard, and public health policy in Aotearoa New Zealand and the United Kingdom

This chapter examines how the COVID-19 pandemic has led to citizen-subjects in Aotearoa New Zealand and the UK developing particular modes of epidemiological consciousness: internalising and vernacularising the categories and logics of public health discourse to become self-regulating epidemiological thinkers, attuned to the ways that their relationships with others and with space might inhibit or facilitate viral transmission. In the process, they have developed distinct new forms of epidemiological sociality and cultivated modes of reasoning that could, in theory, be used to scrutinise policy choices and hold those in power to account. However, when it came to envisioning routes out of lockdown, research participants in both settings were inclined to consider their own nation’s approach ‘safe’ and grounded in ‘science’ while viewing measures that had been successfully adopted in the other country as unsafe or impossible to enforce. Here, epidemiological consciousness was not protecting people so much as foreclosing forms of sociality that could support them during challenging times. Anthropological research can thus contribute to discussions about how to live through a pandemic by holding dominant modes of epidemiological consciousness to critical account while providing portraiture of viable alternative forms of pandemic life.

Citation details:

Deckert, A., Long, N. J., Aikman, P. J., Appleton, N. S., Davies, S. G., Fehoko, E., Holroyd, E., Jivraj, N., Laws, M., Martin-Anatias, N., Roguski, M., Simpson, N., Sterling, R., & Tunufa’i, L. (2023). “It has totally changed how I think about the police”: COVID-19 and the mis/trust of pandemic policing in Aotearoa New Zealand. Criminal Justice Review, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/07340168231193023

“It Has Totally Changed How I Think About the Police”: COVID-19 and the Mis/Trust of Pandemic Policing in Aotearoa New Zealand

In the initial phase of COVID-19, Aotearoa New Zealand was internationally praised for its pandemic response that included lockdowns to control the spread and work toward elimination. Community compliance with control measures was thus essential when pursuing elimination as a policy. Using a mixed-methods approach, we sought to explore whether New Zealand Police (NZP) were trusted to police the lockdown rules at Levels 4 and 3. We analyzed 1,020 survey responses comparing trust among respondents who had been stopped by NZP over the lockdown rules (contacts) with those who had not (non-contacts). We found that both contacts and non-contacts expressed greater trust in NZP to enforce the Level 4 than the Level 3 rules; contacts expressed less trust in NZP to enforce the lockdown rules than non-contacts; contacts perceived NZP more heavy-handed than non-contacts; contacts perceived NZP as only somewhat procedurally just and feeling somewhat encouraged to comply with the lockdown rules and; that unexpected high-profile policing-related events during the survey only affected contacts’ trust significantly. We offer two explanations: (1) NZP were perceived as procedurally unjust or inconsistent in applying the lockdown rules, (2) members of the public and NZP learned the lockdown rules simultaneously. We caution that the unfamiliar character of pandemic policing may jeopardize trust in NZP even among segments of the population that typically express high levels of trust in NZP, that is, people of European descent. We conclude that community compliance with pandemic control measures is no matter to be dealt with by the criminal legal system.

Citation details:

Long, N. J.; Hunter, A.; Appleton, N.; Davies, S; Deckert, A.; Sterling, R.; Tunufa’i, L.; Aikman, P. J.; Fehoko, E.; Holroyd, E.; Jivraj, N.; Laws, M.; Martin-Anatias, N.; Pukepuke, R.; Roguski, M.; Simpson, N.; Trnka, S. (2023). The research imagination during COVID-19: Rethinking norms of group size and authorship in anthropological and anthropology-adjacent collaborations.
Anthropological Forum: A Journal of Social Anthropology and Comparative Sociology, 32(4), 351-370. https://doi.org/10.1080/00664677.2023.2169250

The Research Imagination During COVID-19: Rethinking Norms of Group Size and Authorship in Anthropological and Anthropology-Adjacent Collaborations

This article explores some of the ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic has served as a collective critical event for anthropologists and other social scientists, examining how it has promoted new configurations of the research imagination. We draw on our own experiences of participating in a team of 17 researchers, hailing from anthropology and anthropology-adjacent disciplines, to research social life in Aotearoa/New Zealand during the pandemic, examining how our own research imaginations were transformed during, and via, the process of our collaboration. When our project first began, many of us had doubts reflective of norms, prejudices and anxieties that are common in our disciplines: that the group would be too large to function effectively, or that it would be impossible to develop an approach to authorship that would allow everyone to feel their contributions had been adequately recognised. In practice, the large group size was a key strength in allowing our group to work effectively. Difficulties with authorship did not arise from within the group but from disconnects between our preferred ways of working and the ways authorship was imagined within various professional and publishing bodies. We conclude that large-scale collaborations have many points in their favour, and that the research imaginations of funders, journals, universities and professional associations should be broadened to ensure that they are encouraged, supported and adequately rewarded.

Citation details:

Long, N. J., Tunufa’i, L., Aikman, P. J., Appleton, N. S., Davies, S. G., Deckert, A., Fehoko, E., Holroyd, E., Jivraj, N., Laws, M., Martin-Anatias, N., Pukepuke, R., Roguski, M., Simpson, N. , Sterling, R. (2022). ‘The most difficult time of my life’ or ‘COVID’s gift to me’? Differential experiences of COVID-19 funerary restrictions in Aotearoa New Zealand, Mortality, 1-17, doi.org/10.1080/13576275.2022.2049527

‘The most difficult time of my life’ or ‘COVID’s gift to me’? Differential experiences of COVID-19 funerary restrictions in Aotearoa New Zealand

In 2020, the government of Aotearoa New Zealand imposed some of the most stringent funerary restrictions in the world as part of its efforts to eliminate COVID-19. This article explores how people experienced this situation, asking why restrictions that some described as precipitating ‘the most difficult time of their lives’ were described by others as a ‘relief’, ‘blessing’, or ‘gift’. Much existing literature frames funerary restrictions as a distressing assault upon established ways of grieving to which mourners must try to adapt – and in Aotearoa, both the stringency of the restrictions and the means by which they had been imposed did lead to many people finding them challenging. However, for those with ambivalent pre-existing feelings regarding their funerary traditions – such as many in the Samoan diaspora – COVID-19 restrictions afforded both a reprieve from burdensome practices and a much-welcomed opportunity to reimagine their traditions. Funerary restrictions, though disruptive, are thereby shown to have generative potential.

Citation details:

Holroyd, E., Long, N. J., Appleton, N. S., Davies, S., Deckert, A., Fehoko, E., Laws, M., Martin-Anatias, N., Simpson, N., Sterling, R., Trnka , S., Tunufa’i, L. (2022). Community healthcare workers’ experiences during and after COVID-19 lockdown: A qualitative study from Aotearoa New Zealand. Health and Social Care in the Community, doi.org/10.1111/hsc.13720

Community healthcare workers’ experiences during and after COVID-19 lockdown: A qualitative study from Aotearoa New Zealand

Shortly after the COVID-19 pandemic reached Aotearoa New Zealand, stringent lockdown measures lasting 7 weeks were introduced to manage community spread of the virus. This paper reports the findings of a qualitative study examining how lockdown measures impacted upon the lives of nurses, midwives and personal care assistants caring for community-based patients during this time. The study involved nationwide surveys and in-depth interviews with 15 registered nurses employed in community settings, two community midwives and five personal care assistants. During the lockdown, nurses, midwives and personal care assistants working in the community showed considerable courage in answering their ‘call to duty’ by taking on heightened care responsibilities and going ‘the extra mile’ to help others. They faced significant risks to personal and professional relationships when they were required to take on additional and complex responsibilities for community-based patients. Despite the hypervigilant monitoring of their personal protective equipment (PPE), the need to safeguard family and community members generated considerable stress and anxiety. Many also faced personal isolation and loneliness as a result of lockdown restrictions. Moreover, the negative impacts of experiences during lockdown often continued to be felt once restrictions had been lifted, inflecting life during periods in which community transmission of COVID-19 was not occurring. This article makes five core service delivery and policy recommendations for supporting community-based nurses, midwives and personal care assistants in respiratory disease pandemics: acknowledging the crucial role played by community-based carers and the associated stress and anxiety they endured by championing respect and compassion; demystifying the ‘heroism’ or ‘self-sacrifice’ projected onto care workers; the timely provision of adequate protective equipment; improving remuneration, with adequate provision for time off; and regular counselling, peer support groups and education on work-life balance delivered by support workers in recognition of stressors arising from these complex and isolated working conditions.

Citation details:

Long, N. J., Appleton, N.S, Davies, S., Deckert, A., Fehoko, E., Holroyd, E., Martin-Anatias, N., Sterling, R., Trnka, S. & Tunufa’i, L. (2022). Pathways and obstacles to social recovery following the elimination of SARS-CoV-2 from Aotearoa New Zealand: a qualitative cross-sectional study. Journal of Public Health, DOI: 10.1093/pubmed/fdab394

Pathways and obstacles to social recovery following the elimination of SARS-CoV-2 from Aotearoa New Zealand: a qualitative cross-sectional study 

Background

Many public health experts have claimed that elimination strategies of pandemic response allow ‘normal social life’ to resume. Recognizing that social connections and feelings of normality are important for public health, this study examines whether, and for whom, that goal is realized, and identifies obstacles that may inhibit its achievement.

Methods

Thematic analysis of narratives obtained via a qualitative cross-sectional survey of a community cohort in Aotearoa | New Zealand.

Results

A majority of participants reported that life after elimination was ‘more or less the same’ as before the pandemic. Some became more social. Nevertheless, a sizeable minority reported being less social, even many months after elimination. Key obstacles to social recovery included fears that the virus was circulating undetected and the enduring impact of lockdowns upon social relationships, personal habits and mental health. Within our sample, old age and underlying health conditions were both associated with a propensity to become less social.

Conclusions

Elimination strategies can successfully allow ‘normal social life’ to resume. However, this outcome is not guaranteed. People may encounter difficulties with re-establishing social connections in Zero-COVID settings. Measures designed to overcome such obstacles should be an integral part of elimination strategies.

Citation details:

Deckert, A., Long, N. J., Aikman, P. J., Appleton, N.S, Davies, S., Fehoko, E., Holroyd, E. Jivraj, N., Laws, M., Martin-Anatias, N., Pukepuke, R., Roguski, M., Simpson, N., Sterling, R., Trnka, S. & Tunufa’i, L. (2021). ‘Safer communities … together’? Plural policing and COVID-19 public health interventions in Aotearoa New Zealand. Policing and Society. DOI:10.1080/10439463.2021.1924169

‘Safer communities … together’? Plural policing and COVID-19 public health interventions in Aotearoa New Zealand

International media have praised Aotearoa New Zealand for its response to the coronavirus pandemic. While New Zealand Police played a fundamental role in enforcing pandemic control measures, the policing landscape remained plural. This article employs Loader [2000. Plural policing and democratic governance. Social and legal studies, 9 (3), 323–345] model of plural policing to understand responses to public health emergencies. It identifies two forms of policing which were evident in Aotearoa during the COVID-19 lockdown that should be added to Loader’s model. First, we argue that contexts with colonial history require that the model not only includes by-government and below-government policing but also next-to-government policing by Indigenous peoples – such as the ‘community checkpoints’ run by Māori. Second, and further developing Loader’s model, we argue that the category of below-government policing be expanded to include ‘peer-to-peer policing’ in which government responsibilizes members of the public to subject each other to large-scale surveillance and social control. Since plural forms of policing affect each other’s functionality and legitimacy, we argue that what happens at the synapses between policing nodes has profound implications for the process of community building. Because community building is essential to fighting pandemics, we conclude that the policing of pandemic intervention measures may require an expanded understanding and practice of plural policing to support an optimal public health strategy.

Citation details:

Trnka, S., Long N. J., Aikman, P. J., Appleton, N. S., Davies, S., Deckert, A., Fehoko, E., Holroyd, E. Jivraj, N., Laws, M., Martin-Anatias, N., Roguski, M., Simpson, N., Sterling, R. & Tunufa’i, L. (2021). Negotiating risks and responsibilities during lockdown: ethical reasoning and affective experience in Aotearoa New Zealand. Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand. DOI: 10.1080/03036758.2020.1865417

Negotiating risks and responsibilities during lockdown: ethical reasoning and affective experience in Aotearoa New Zealand

Over forty-nine days of Level 4 and Level 3 lockdown, residents of Aotearoa New Zealand were subject to ‘stay home’ regulations that restricted physical contact to members of the same social ‘bubble’. This article examines their moral decision-making and affective experiences of lockdown, especially when faced with competing responsibilities to adhere to public health regulations, but also to care for themselves or provide support to people outside their bubbles. Our respondents engaged in independent risk assessment, weighing up how best to uphold the ‘spirit’ of the lockdown even when contravening lockdown regulations; their decisions could, however, lead to acute social rifts. Some respondents – such as those in flatshares and shared childcare arrangements – recounted feeling disempowered from participating in the collective management of risk and responsibility within their bubbles, while essential workers found that anxieties about their workplace exposure to the coronavirus could prevent them from expanding their bubbles in ways they might have liked. The inability to adequately care for oneself or for others thus emerges as a crucial axis of disadvantage, specific to times of lockdown. Policy recommendations regarding lockdown regulations are provided.

Citation details:

Martin-Anatias, N.., Long N. J., Aikman, P. J., Appleton, N. S., Davies, S., Deckert, A., Fehoko, E., Holroyd, E. Jivraj, N., Laws, M., Martin-Anatias, N., Roguski, M., Simpson, N., Sterling, R., Trnka, S. & Tunufa’i, L. (2021). Lockdown Ibuism: Experiences of Indonesian Migrant Mothers during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Aotearoa New Zealand. Intersections: Gender and Sexuality in Asia and the Pacific, 45.

Lockdown Ibuism: Experiences of Indonesian Migrant Mothers during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Aotearoa New Zealand.

This article contributes to ongoing conversations about gender and inequality during the pandemic by exploring the experiences of Indonesian migrant mothers residing in Aotearoa New Zealand (hereafter ‘NZ’) as they lived through the nation’s first countrywide lockdown, implemented by NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on 25 March 2020 and lasting in various stages until mid-May 2020. We explore multiple questions: What happened to gender roles within families during lockdown? What impact did increased childcare responsibilities have on mothers and fathers, especially during Alert Level 4 (25 March–27 April), when schools were closed and NZ residents were required to stay in their ‘bubbles’ (exclusive social groups, usually coterminous with a single household). Moreover, we consider how the experiences of Indonesian migrant mothers both paralleled and diverged from that of other mothers in NZ: a nation currently renowned for its high levels of gender equality and progressive feminist policies, especially under the premiership of Jacinda Ardern, herself the mother of a young child. We posit that although Indonesian migrant mothers faced an increased care burden—much like many other mothers in NZ (and beyond)—their experience of meeting this care burden was differentiated by two key factors. First, by the way Indonesian ideologies of Ibuism (motherism) shaped their outlook regarding kinship roles and responsibilities; and, second, by the specific challenges arising from their status as ‘non-native’ speakers of English. We thus emphasise the value and importance of an intersectional analysis, arguing that the specificity of their experience as Indonesian migrant mothers both supported and compromised their wellbeing during lockdown.

Citation details:

Appleton, N.S, Long, N. J., Aikman, P. J., Davies, S.,Deckert, A., Fehoko, E., Holroyd, E. Jivraj, N., Laws, M., Martin-Anatias, N., Roguski, M., Simpson, N., Sterling, R., Trnka, S. & Tunufa’i, L. (2020). (Alter)narratives of ‘winning’: Supermarket and healthcare workers’ experiences of COVID-19 in Aotearoa New Zealand. Sites: New Series, 17(2).

(Alter)narratives of ‘winning’: Supermarket and healthcare workers’ experiences of COVID-19 in Aotearoa New Zealand

COVID-19 stories, especially from Aotearoa New Zealand as one of the leading nations ‘winning’ over the virus will be important historical documentation. The ‘team of 5 million’ is writing its narratives of life with/out COVID-19 – stories of ‘living in bubbles’, of ‘being kind’ and ‘being in it together.’ These are narratives of success which need to be examined alongside the narratives that have been absent from public national discourse but complicate understandings of ‘winning.’ To that end, in this article we map out (alter)narratives from supermarket and healthcare workers and highlight their stories of living and caring under lockdown. We posit that we need to pay attention to (alter)narratives of winning over COVID-19 in order to pay attention to the bodies and spaces that are often invisible but make winning possible. Thus, we see (Alter)narratives not as counter or anti to the nation’s winning narrative, but rather essential and adjacent.

Citation details:

Long, N. J., Aikman, P. J., Appleton, N. S., Davies, S., Deckert, A., Holroyd, E., Jivraj, N., Laws, M., Simpson, N., Sterling, R., Trnka, S. & Tunufa’i, L. (2020). Living in bubbles during the coronavirus pandemic: insights from New Zealand. Rapid Research Report. London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK. Living in Bubbles.

Living in bubbles during the coronavirus pandemic: insights from New Zealand. Rapid Research Report

This report presents initial research findings on the ‘social bubbles’ policy that the New Zealand government adopted as part of its strategy for curbing the spread of the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. The concept of ‘the bubble’ proved effective at conveying the necessity of exclusive containment, while foregrounding the importance of mutual care and support that might stretch beyond a single household or home. It allowed New Zealanders who were isolated, vulnerable, or struggling to receive the care and support they needed. This success partly resulted from the strong emphasis placed on ‘being kind’ within the New Zealand government’s public narrative of the lockdown. Bubbles were expanded when it would keep people ‘safe and well’. There was high compliance with the mandate to keep bubbles exclusive, and the concept of exclusivity within an expanded bubble was generally – if not always – well understood. Adaptation to ‘the bubble’ as a new social form was not always straightforward, however, and bubble relationships could be strained by divergent risk perceptions, or differing interpretations of ambiguous guidelines. Moreover, some groups systematically found it harder to enjoy the full benefits of living in a bubble: people living in flatshare arrangements, co-parents living apart, recently arrived migrants and people who were active in the workplace. Once infection rates are sufficiently low and appropriate contact tracing infrastructures are in place, a social bubbles policy could be very effective in other countries, especially if concrete steps are taken to pre-empt some of the difficulties and inequalities that were evident in New Zealand.

Citation details:

Trnka, S., & Davies, S. (2020). Blowing bubbles: Covid-19, New Zealand’s bubble metaphor, and the limits of households as sites of responsibility and care.” In J. M. Ryan (Ed.) Covid-19: Global Pandemic, Societal Responses, Ideological Solutions.(pp. 167-183). Routledge.

Blowing bubbles: Covid-19, New Zealand’s bubble metaphor, and the limits of households as sites of responsibility and care

When New Zealand embarked on its COVID-19 lockdown, the world saw the emergence of a new social form: the “bubble.” This chapter examines bubbles for the social dynamics they enabled and elided, as well as for what the bubble metaphor suggested but did not always deliver. During level 4 lockdown, most New Zealanders (with exceptions such as essential service workers) were restricted to physical contact with members of their residence – a social unit the government referred to as the members of one’s “home,” “household,” or “bubble.” Not all care relations can, however, be reduced to a single home or household, nor are all households units of care. Regulations enabling bubble expansions in specific circumstances provided some means of addressing care needs that superseded households (e.g., singletons becoming “bubble buddies” to mitigate loneliness). But little was done for those consigned to bubbles whose members were unattached to one another, much less antagonistic. There is thus a need for bubble regulations to match more closely the flexibility inherent in the bubble as a concept when planning for future crises.