MASKS AND MATERIALITY IN THE ERA OF COVID-19

Abstract

During the covid-19 pandemic, cloth and disposable masks were recommended to reduce virus transmission. As mask wearing became more common, whether by personal choice or regulation, and the variety of masks available increased, these masks acquired the status of key material-culture objects. This essay reflects on the symbolic nature of obtaining, wearing, and discarding masks during the pandemic within the context of Michigan in the United States. Using material-culture theories proposed by Anna Tsing, Arjun Appadurai, Christine Harold, and Andrei Guruianu and Natalia Andrievskikh, I consider the cultural value, power, and communicability of masks. Woven into this reflection are my personal experiences with masks as they relate to the three themes. I conclude by reflecting on the ephemeral nature of masks and the ever-changing meanings derived through an examination of material culture.

Keywords::

• commodity
• COVID-19
• disposable
• gift economy
• masks
• materiality
• material culture
• N95
• pandemic

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank David Kaplan for inviting me to contribute to this special issue and members of my SVSU Writing Accountability Group for their help brainstorming about the meaning of masks. Sherrin Frances, Rob Drew, Warren Fincher, and Scott Youngstedt read earlier drafts of this manuscript and provided valuable feedback. Finally, thank you to the reviewers, whose comments helped me refine and improve my work.

Notes

¹ On 2 October 2020, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled that Governor Whitmer did not have the power to issue or renew executive orders related to the coronavirus after 30 April 2020. The governor had extended the coronavirus state of emergency declaration on April 30^th, citing the Emergency Management Act (EMA) of 1976 and the Emergency Powers of the Governor Act (EPGA) of 1945 (Alsup and Cullinane 2020). On 5 October 2020, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services reinstated many of the governor’s mandates, such as those requiring face coverings in public areas and limiting the size of gatherings, under Emergency Orders they were granted during the Spanish Flu epidemic in 1918 to protect public health during a pandemic (WXYZ 2020).

² This study only included and referred to surgical masks, also called “procedural masks” or “medical masks” and the N95 respirators, as both have similar value chains. The recommendations made by the OECD as a result of this study reflect the mission of this organization, one that prioritizes global economics and trade, and should be considered in light of the organization’s general goals.

³ There has been debate in academic circles about whether Facebook is really an imagined community (see Gill 2017 for arguments about why Facebook is not such a community), and while I agree with many of these arguments, I would posit that Facebook groups are indeed imagined communities, with thousands of members globally who have never met each other, do not know each other in any other context, and seemingly share the same interests or philosophies as the group’s description claims. But whether Facebook or any of its groups are imagined communities or not is beyond the scope and focus of this essay.

⁴ One reviewer noted that there were sewing groups that met in person. That might be the case in other places, but in Michigan, where lockdown orders were instituted early in the pandemic and were pretty strictly enforced, any group that met in person to sew would have done so in a clandestine format, its members most likely reluctant to tell others they were violating state laws, and thus I cannot report on the occurrence of this practice. The point is that most of the sewing groups were virtual as I described in the essay.

⁵ Local and regional context is, of course, important here. A friend who traveled to Ann Arbor in the summer of 2020 reported people wearing masks while outside walking. Ann Arbor, as a college town, is generally considered by the rest of the state to be more progressive and forward/outward thinking than other regions.