‘I’m not a doctor, but I can sew a mask’: The face mask home sewing movement as a means of control during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020

Abstract

As the COVID-19 pandemic emerged, a widespread shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) specifically N95 face masks were exposed. This need was quickly answered by home sewers who did not hesitate to answer the request of medical professionals to help fill the PPE shortage. As the United States entered a national quarantine, home sewers turned to social media, specifically Instagram to share their participation and communicate the need to recruit others to join them in their mask sewing efforts. This research aimed to interpret the Instagram post messages shared to understand the motivations of participation in mask sewing efforts. Social media hashtags were used to identify the messages related to home sewing face masks for the pandemic. A netnographic qualitative research approach uncovered five overarching themes: this is helping me, call to action, do it right, rising to the occasion and I’m ready for this.

Raging Against the “Neoliberal Hellscape”: Anger, Pride, and Ambivalence in Civil Society Responses to the COVID‐19 Pandemic in the USA

“…Interestingly, and in contrast to some other studies that find the state comes into direct conflict with those who resist its abuses via harassment or outright blocking community efforts (e.g. Spade 2020), makers in our study did not experience any state resistance or hostile actions, instead identifying the problem as state inaction in the face of a crisis (Hong et al 2021;Martindale et al 2021;Schnittka 2021;Stalp 2020).…”

“…2021 ; Martindale et al. 2021 ; Pham 2020 ; Schnittka 2021 ). Given the significant responsibilities granted to civil society in neoliberalising contexts, it will be important to fully consider how civil society work reproduces and/or subverts inequalities associated with race, gender, class, and other significant dimensions of inequality.…”

“…Scholars have started exploring the evolving interrelations between social inequalities and COVID-19, with particular attention to inequitable labour arrangements (Craig and Churchill 2021;Friedman et al 2021;Hong et al 2021;Martindale et al 2021;Pham 2020;Schnittka 2021). Given the significant responsibilities granted to civil society in neoliberalising contexts, it will be important to fully consider how civil society work reproduces and/or subverts inequalities associated with race, gender, class, and other significant dimensions of inequality.…”

“…By linking individuals who had access to different technologies and unique skill sets that included hand and machine sewing, 3D printing, fundraising, volunteer coordinating, and online platform design, this group practised commoning (DeAngelis and Harvie 2013 ) to come together and perform the labour necessary to manage and produce large quantities of PPE (Martindale et al. 2021 ; Schnittka 2021 ).…”

Koronakäsityöt Instagramin kuvavirrassa

“…Vaikka käsitöiden verkkoistumisesta on julkaistu tutkimuksia niin Suomessa (Kouhia 2020;Vartiainen 2010;Vilhunen 2018;Vilhunen, Pöllänen ja Pitkäniemi 2021) kuin ulkomaillakin (Mayne 2020;Minahan & Wolfram Cox, 2007;Orton-Johnson 2014;Williams 2018), on Instagramin aineistojen tutkiminen varsin uusi avaus käsitöiden harrastamisen tutkimuksessa. Vasta viime vuosina Instagramia on alettu hyödyntää tutkimuksissa nopeasti elävän ja muuntuvan käsityökulttuurin tutkimusaineistona, esimerkiksi käsityöharrastajien sosiaalisten, poliittisten ja taloudellisten representaatioiden (Black 2018) sekä käsityökulttuurin ilmiöiden, kuten pandemia-ajan kasvomaskien ompelun (Martindale, Armstead ja McKinney 2021), tutkimisessa.…”