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

Appleton, Nayantara Sheoran, Long, Nicholas J. ORCID: 0000-0002-4088-1661, Aikman, Pounamu Jade, Graham Davies, Sharyn, Deckert, Antje, Fehoko, Edmond, Holroyd, Eleanor, Jivraj, Naseem, Laws, Megan ORCID: 0000-0002-7652-4279, Martin-Anatias, Nelly, Roguski, Michael, Simpson, Nikita ORCID: 0000-0001-5260-3266, Sterling, Rogena, Trnka, Susanna and Tunufa’i, Laumua (2021) (Alter)narratives of ‘winning’: supermarket and healthcare workers’ experiences of COVID-19 in Aotearoa New Zealand. Sites: A Journal of Anthropology and Cultural Studies, 17 (2). ISSN 1179-0237

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Abstract

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.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	https://sites.otago.ac.nz/Sites
Additional Information:	© 2021 Sites: New Series, Association of Social Anthropologists of Aotearoa New Zealand
Divisions:	Anthropology
Subjects:	R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine > RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine H Social Sciences > HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare. Criminology
Date Deposited:	01 Mar 2021 14:54
Last Modified:	12 Dec 2024 02:28
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/108924

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