Exacerbating Divisions: Facemasks and COVID-19

Summary

This is a poster submission presented at the 2021 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in an era of unprecedented fear, anxiety, and paranoia throughout the world. A hallmark of prevention and precautionary methods against COVID-19, and perhaps the most recognizable symbol of the COVID-19 era, is the face mask. Facemasks became a widespread phenomena in the U.S. in early April, 2020 when the pandemic began to accelerate. This phenomena has changed and shifted course throughout the COVID-19 era in multiple ways, which has ultimately resulted in a social divide between mask wearers and those who eschew masks, and consequently the mask has largely become a political symbol in the U.S. Analyzing the evolution of the COVID-19 facemask phenomena through an ethnographic and archaeological perspective could produce valuable insight to how humanity has adapted to the COVID-19 era through the use (or disuse) of facemasks.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• 2021 SHA Poster Submissions   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2021

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology