Skip to main content
Open Book Publishers

18. What’s behind the Mask? Family, Fandoms and Playful Caring around Children’s Masks during the Covid-19 Pandemic

Chapter of: Play in a Covid Frame: Everyday Pandemic Creativity in a Time of Isolation(pp. 395–426)

Export Metadata

  • ONIX 3.0
    • Thoth
    • Project MUSE
      Cannot generate record: No BIC or BISAC subject code
    • OAPEN
    • JSTOR
      Cannot generate record: No BISAC subject code
    • Google Books
      Cannot generate record: No BIC, BISAC or LCC subject code
    • OverDrive
      Cannot generate record: No priced EPUB or PDF URL
  • ONIX 2.1
  • CSV
  • JSON
  • OCLC KBART
  • BibTeX
  • CrossRef DOI deposit
    Cannot generate record: No work or chapter DOIs to deposit
  • MARC 21 Record
    Cannot generate record: MARC records are not available for chapters
  • MARC 21 Markup
    Cannot generate record: MARC records are not available for chapters
  • MARC 21 XML
    Cannot generate record: MARC records are not available for chapters
Metadata
Title18. What’s behind the Mask? Family, Fandoms and Playful Caring around Children’s Masks during the Covid-19 Pandemic
ContributorYinka Olusoga(author)
Catherine Bannister (author)
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0326.18
Landing pagehttps://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0326/chapters/10.11647/obp.0326.18
Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
CopyrightOlusoga, Yinka; Bannister, Catherine;
PublisherOpen Book Publishers
Published on2023-06-01
Long abstractRecognition of Covid-19 as an airborne, respiratory virus introduced mask wearing suddenly, and potentially disruptively, into many children and young people’s everyday lives in the UK. Guidance, and later regulations, requiring mask wearing for older children in communal spaces, and the uptake in families of masks for younger children despite age-related exemptions, meant that many families swiftly began developing habitual practices around mask wearing. This chapter goes ‘behind the mask’ as a physical, material object representative of the pandemic, and mask wearing as a focal pandemic practice, to explore mask-related practices within extended families. These practices began reframing masks as playful personal items, so seeking to make the strange familiar and even fun, to reassure children during a difficult period and to offer outlets for expressing children’s identities and interests. The chapter draws mainly on auto-ethnographic observations within the authors’ families based in the UK, where public mask-wearing as a means of infection control was not a broad societal norm prior to the pandemic. It considers mask design and the giving and receiving of masks within extended families as an extension of and expression of caring, protective intergenerational relationships. It explores childrens’ own agency in mask design and how children drew on their own fandoms and digital/literary/media interests, such as the Harry Potter, Star Wars and Marvel franchises. It also considers how masks were even presented to children as a gift or treat, drawing on celebratory tradition. It demonstrates how the underlying relationships within families behind these practices address narratives of children as vulnerable and lacking agency during the pandemic.
Page rangepp. 395–426
Print length32 pages
LanguageEnglish (Original)
Keywords
  • Covid-19
  • Mask Wearing
  • Children
  • Families
  • Playful Practices
  • Auto-ethnography
  • Mask Design
  • Fandoms
  • Interests
  • Intergenerational Relationships
  • Agency
  • Celebratory Tradition
  • Vulnerability
  • Pandemic
Contributors

Yinka Olusoga

(author)
Lecturer in Education at University of Sheffield
Director of Research Project Childhoods and Play: The Iona and Peter Opie Archive at British Academy
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4779-574X

Yinka Olusoga, PhD, is a lecturer in education at the University of Sheffield where she co-directs the BA in Education, Culture and Childhood. She is the director of the British Academy research project Childhoods and Play: The Iona and Peter Opie Archive, and a co-investigator on the Play Observatory, a collaborative project examining children’s play during the Covid-19 pandemic. Yinka’s research focuses on discourses and histories of childhood, play and education and on the co-construction of environments for children’s play and creative engagement. She is interested in children’s digital literacies and the intergenerational co-construction of play and storytelling.Yinka Olusoga, PhD, is a lecturer in education at the University of Sheffield where she co-directs the BA in Education, Culture and Childhood. She is the director of the British Academy research project Childhoods and Play: The Iona and Peter Opie Archive, and a co-investigator on the Play Observatory, a collaborative project examining children’s play during the Covid-19 pandemic. Yinka’s research focuses on discourses and histories of childhood, play and education and on the co-construction of environments for children’s play and creative engagement. She is interested in children’s digital literacies and the intergenerational co-construction of play and storytelling.

Catherine Bannister

(author)
Research Associate in Children's Digital Play and Wellbeing at University of Sheffield

Catherine Bannister, PhD, is a research associate at the University of Sheffield, exploring children’s digital play and wellbeing, and was a researcher on the Play Observatory project investigating children’s play during Covid-19. She also spends her time picking up LEGO, tripping over toy Minecraft weaponry and wondering what to cook for tea. Her interests include children’s experiences of custom and tradition, in virtual/digital settings as well as in physical ones, and contemporary rites of passage for young people in the context of uniformed youth organizations. Cath is author of Scouting and Guiding in Britain: The Ritual Socialisation of Young People (2022) and co-founder of the Contemporary Folklore Research Centre at the University of Sheffield.

References
  1. Adams, Tony, and Jimmie Manning. 2015. ‘Autoethnography and Family Research’, Journal of Family Theory & Review, 7: 350–66, https://doi.org/10.1111/jftr.12116
  2. Belton, Brian. 2009. ‘Here’s Looking at You Kid (or the Hoodies Fight Back)’, in Developing Critical Youth Work Theory (Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill), pp. 131-43
  3. Ben-Amos, Dan. 1971. ‘Toward a Definition of Folklore in Context’, Journal of American Folklore, 84: 3-15
  4. Burgess, Adam, and Mitsutoshi Horii. 2012. ‘Risk, Ritual and Health Responsibilisation: Japan’s “Safety Blanket” of Surgical Face Mask‐Wearing’, Sociology of Health & Illness, 34:, 1184–198, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9566.2012.01466.x
  5. Cabrera, Elena. 2021. ‘Are You Smiling under Your Face Mask? The Potential Negative Psychological Side-Effects of Covid-19 on Children That Are Going Unnoticed’, Charged Magazine, 2 April, http://chargedmagazine.org/2021/04/are-you-smiling-under-your-face-mask/
  6. Cairney, Paul. 2021. ‘The UK Government’s COVID-19 Policy: Assessing Evidence-Informed Policy Analysis in Real Time’, British Politics, 16: 90-116, https://doi.org/10.1057/s41293-020-00150-8
  7. Chomitzky, Katya. 2020. ‘Pandemic, but Make It Fashion: Ukrainian Embroidered PPE in the Time of COVID-19’, Folklorica: Journal of the Slavic, Eastern European, and Eurasian Folklore Association, 24: 27-50, https://doi.org/10.17161/folklorica.v24i.15689
  8. Cohen, Stanley. 2002. Folk Devils and Moral Panics, 3rd edn (London: Routledge)
  9. Coelho, Sophie G., Alicia Segovia, Samantha Anthony, et al. 2022. ‘Return to School and Mask-Wearing in Class during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Student Perspectives from a School Simulation Study’, Paediatrics & Child Health, 27: S15-S21, https://doi.org/10.1093/pch/pxab102
  10. Cortés-Morales, Susana, et al. 2022. ‘Children Living in Pandemic Times: A Geographical, Transnational and Situated View’, Children’s Geographies, 20: 381-91, https://doi.org/10.1080/14733285.2021.1928603
  11. Cowan, Kate, et al. 2021. ‘Children’s Digital Play during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Insights from the Play Observatory’. Journal of e-Learning and Knowledge Society, 17.3: 8-17, https://doi.org/10.20368/1971-8829/1135590
  12. Eberhart, Martin, Stefan Orthaber, and Reinhold Kerbl. 2021. ‘The Impact of Face Masks on Children: A Mini Review’, Acta Pædiatrica, 110: 1778–783, https://doi.org/10.1111/apa.15784
  13. Ellis, Carolyn, Tony E. Adams, and Arthur P. Bochner. 2011. ‘Autoethnography: An Overview’, Historical Social Research, 36: 273–90
  14. Feng, Shuo, et al. 2020. ‘Rational Use of Face Masks in the COVID-19 Pandemic’, Lancet Respiratory Medicine 8: 434-36, https://doi.org/10.1016/S2213-2600(20)30134-X
  15. Fivecoat, Jesse A., Kristina Downs, and Meredith A. E. McGriff. 2021. ‘Envisioning a Future Folkloristics’, in Advancing Folkloristics, ed. by Jesse A. Fivecoate, Kristina Downs, and Meredith A. E. McGriff (Bloomington: Indiana University Press), pp. 1-8
  16. Gingrich-Philbrook, Craig. 2005. ‘Autoethnography’s Family Values: Easy Access to Compulsory Experiences’, Text and Performance Quarterly, 25: 297-314, https://doi.org/10.1080/10462930500362445
  17. Godwin, Victoria L. 2018. ‘Hogwarts House Merchandise, Liminal Play, and Fan Identities’, Film Criticism, 42, https://doi.org/10.3998/fc.13761232.0042.206
  18. Guy, Batsheva, and Brittany Arthur. 2020. ‘Academic Motherhood During COVID-19: Navigating Our Dual Roles as Educators and Mothers’, Gender, Work and Organization, 27: 887-99, https://doi.org/10.1111/gwao.12493
  19. Hafner, Christoph. A. 2015. ‘Co-Constructing Identity in Virtual Worlds for Children’, in Discourse and Digital Practices: Doing Discourse Analysis in the Digital Age, ed. by Rodney H. Jones, Alice Chik and Christoph A. Hafner (London: Routledge), pp. 97-111
  20. Halbur, Mary, et al. 2021. ‘Tolerance of Face Coverings for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder’, Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 54: 600–17, https://doi.org/10.1002/jaba.833
  21. Heald, Adrian H., et al. 2021. ‘Modelling the Impact of the Mandatory Use of Face Coverings on Public Transport and in Retail Outlets in the UK on COVID‐19‐Related Infections, Hospital Admissions and Mortality’, International Journal of Clinical Practice, 75: e13768, https://doi.org/10.1111/ijcp.13768
  22. Hier, Sean P., et al. 2011. ‘Beyond Folk Devil Resistance: Linking Moral Panic and Moral Regulation’, Criminology & Criminal Justice, 11: 259–76,
  23. Holmes, Andrew Gary Darwin. 2020. ‘Researcher Positionality: A Consideration of Its Influence and Place in Qualitative Research: A New Researcher Guide’, Shanlax International Journal of Education, 8.4: 1-10, http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1268044.pdf
  24. Ike, John David, et al. 2020. ‘Face Masks: Their History and the Values They Communicate’, Journal of Health Communication, 25: 990-95, https://doi.org/10.1080/10810730.2020.1867257
  25. Imber-Black, Evan. 2020. ‘Rituals in the Time of COVID-19: Imagination, Responsiveness, and the Human Spirit’, Family Process, 59: 912-21, https://doi.org/10.1111/famp.12581
  26. Jenkins, Richard. 2014. Social Identity, 4th edn (London: Routledge)
  27. Jones, Michael Owen. 1997. ‘How Can We Apply Event Analysis to “Material Behavior,” and Why Should We?’ Western Folklore, 56: 199-214, https://doi.org/10.2307/1500274
  28. Kennedy, Kimberley, and Harriet Romo. 2013 ‘“All Colors and Hues’’: An Autoethnography of a Multiethnic Family’s Strategies for Bilingualism and Multiculturalism’, Family Relations, 62: 109–24, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3729.2012.00742.x
  29. Marsh, Jackie. 2010. ‘Young Children’s Play in Online Virtual Worlds’, Journal of Early Childhood Research, 8: 23-39, https://doi.org/10.1177/1476718X09345406
  30. McKinty, Judy, and Ruth Hazleton. 2022. ‘The Pandemic Play Project: Documenting Kids’ Culture during COVID-19’, International Journal of Play, 11: 12-33, https://doi.org/10.1080/21594937.2022.2042940
  31. Nash, Catriona, Lisa O’Malley, and Maurice Patterson. 2021. ‘Experiencing Family Ethnography: Challenges, Practicalities and Reflections on Practice’, Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, 24: 97-112, https://doi.org/10.1108/QMR-03-2019-0050
  32. Olusoga, Yinka, et al. 2022. ‘Preserving the Present: Designing a Child-Centered Qualitative Survey for a National Observatory of Children’s Play’, SAGE Research Methods: Doing Research Online, https://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781529603736
  33. Panovska-Griffiths, J., et al. 2021. ‘Modelling the Potential Impact of Mask Use in Schools and Society on COVID-19 Control in the UK’, Scientific Reports, 11: 8747, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-88075-0
  34. Phoenix, Aisha. 2019. ‘Negotiating British Muslim Belonging: A Qualitative Longitudinal Study’, Ethnic and Racial Studies, 42: 1632-650, https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2018.1532098
  35. Pourret, Olivier, and Elodie Saillet. 2020. ‘Wear Your Mask, but Think about Deaf Students’, Nature, 586: 629–30, https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-02823-2
  36. Quinones, Gloria, and Megan Adams. 2021. ‘Children’s Virtual Worlds and Friendships during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Visual Technologies as a Panacea for Social Isolation’, Video Journal of Education and Pedagogy, 5: 1-18, https://doi.org/10.1163/23644583-bja10015
  37. Sebba-Elran, Tsafi. 2021. ‘A Pandemic of Jokes? The Israeli COVID-19 Meme and the Construction of a Collective Response to Risk’, Humor, 34: 229-57, https://doi.org/10.1515/humor-2021-0012
  38. Singh, Leher, Agnes Tan, and Paul C. Quinn. 2021. ‘Infants Recognize Words Spoken Through Opaque Masks but Not through Clear Masks’, Developmental Science, 24: e13117–n/a, https://doi.org//10.1111/desc.13117
  39. Sivaraman, Maithri, Javier Virues‐Ortega, and Herbert Roeyers. 2021. ‘Telehealth Mask Wearing Training for Children with Autism During the COVID‐19 Pandemic’, Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 54: 70–86, https://doi.org/10.1002/jaba.802
  40. Spitzer, Manfred. 2020. ‘Masked Education? The Benefits and Burdens of Wearing Face Masks in Schools during the Current Corona Pandemic’, Trends in Neuroscience and Education, 20: 100138, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tine.2020.100138
  41. Sundaram, Neisha, et al. 2021. ‘Implementation of Preventive Measures to Prevent COVID-19: A National Study of English Primary Schools in Summer 2020’, Health Education Research, 36: 272–85, https://doi.org/10.1093/her/cyab016
  42. Tong, Xin, et al. 2021. ‘Players’ Stories and Secrets in Animal Crossing: New Horizons: Exploring Design Factors for Positive Emotions and Social Interactions in a Multiplayer Online Game’, Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, 5: 1-23, https://doi.org/10.1145/3474711
  43. Turkle, Sherry. 1985. The Second Self: Computers and the Human Spirit (New York: Simon & Schuster)
  44. Twele, Anita, Sophia M. Thierry, and Catherine J. Mondloch. 2022. ‘Face Masks Have a Limited Influence on First Impressions: Evidence from Three Experiments’, Perception, 51: 417–34, https://doi.org/10.1177/03010066221091729
  45. Upton, Dell. 1979. ‘Toward a Performance Theory of Vernacular Architecture: Early Tidewater Virginia as a Case Study’, Folklore Forum, 12: 173-96
  46. Warren, George W., and Ragnar Lofstedt. 2022. ‘Risk Communication and COVID-19 in Europe: Lessons for Further Public Health Crises’, Journal of Risk Research, 25: 1161-175, https://doi.org/10.1080/13669877.2021.1947874
  47. Williams, Simon, et al. 2022. ‘The UK Is an International Outlier in Its Approach to Covid in Children’, BMJ, 376: o327, https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.o327
  48. Winarnita, Minkia. 2019. ‘Digital Family Ethnography: Lessons from Fieldwork amongst Indonesians in Australia’, Migration, Mobility, & Displacement 4: 105-17, https://doi.org/10.18357/mmd41201918973