Living through COVID-19
C19 x ARTS x DIGITAL LABOUR
With Dr Jacinthe Flore and Averyl Gaylor (RMIT)
The arts industry in Victoria was among the most affected by government restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic including the ‘lockdown’ periods. We invited creative arts workers to share their pandemic experiences in an online qualitative survey. The survey was open from August to October 2020. 40 Victorians participants and told us about their work and creative practices before and during the COVID-19 restrictions, income support they applied for and/or accessed, their digital work practices, and their experiences of mental health and wellbeing during the restrictions.
Participants shared their experiences, frustrations and, for some, loss of hope. Most shared that they were motivated to participate because of the challenges they, and the industry faced.
We recently published an article from the survey in the Journal of Sociology that explores the social imaginaries of creative work.
Early findings were also shared on The Conversation and this piece was included in the Parliament of Australia’s press clippings database. Natalie spoke about the research project on 3RRR’s SmartArts with Richard Watts on 22 October 2020.
A short summary report is now available and will be co-launched as part of an event in early 2021.
“Infrastructures of care” and international students in Australia
With Dr Earvin Calabalquinto (Deakin University), and Dr Benjamin Hanckel and Dr Jasbeer Musthafa Mamalipurath (Western Sydney University)
International students include more than 600000 people across Australia (Department of Education Skills and Employment, 2020). Many of these students have experienced significant impacts related to the COVID-19 crisis, and report heightened experiences of racism and xenophobia. This project examines the institutional responses that have emerged for these international students during the pandemic. Using a comparative case study approach, we are interrogating the discourses and representations of care and support that have emerged across the digital institutional messaging and digital practices aimed at international students. These work alongside other discourses and practices to produce “imaginaries of care” that produce complex “care infrastructures” that aim to support all international students.
The team presented on early theoretical work at the Coronavirus and its Impact on International Students: International Education in the Time of Global Disruptions conference in February, 2021.
HDR students belonging and connection
With Prof Larissa Hjorth, Prof Ingrid Richardson, Dr Catherine Gomes, Dr Gretchen Coombs, Dr Ruth DeSouza and AssocProf Anne Harris (RMIT)
The interdisciplinary research team was commissioned by the School of Graduate Research (SGR) to undertake qualitative, ethnographic research to explore HDR candidates’ experiences of belonging and connection. We shifted the project’s aims in response to the COVID-19 pandemic to focus on candidates’ experiences of belonging and wellbeing in the context of undertaking a research degree during the pandemic. From June to August 2020, we interviewed 26 HDR candidates from each of the three RMIT Colleges. Many candidates have found they need to substantially modify their research themes and methods while simultaneously experiencing a sense of loss, grief and confusion. And yet, they have also found ways to be resilient and adaptive to emerging and uncertain work futures.
A short report is available here and an early literature review is here.
Led by Dr Gomes, the team published a paper looking at the challenges international students faced.
Creative writing workshops for HDR students
With Signe Uldbjerg (Aarhus University, Denmark)
Together we have explored different ways of doing writing research and we have focussed on different potentials in writing as an affective and experimental method. Between us, we have been involved in a number of different research projects drawing on writing – creative writing in particular – as a research method. Most recently, we organized workshops in each of our respective countries, Australia and Denmark, focussing on students’ experiences during the international COVID19 “lockdown”. We are currently writing a book chapter from this work and looking to extend our collaboration in 2021.
