{"id":251,"date":"2020-05-28T15:00:09","date_gmt":"2020-05-28T14:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/happ\/?p=251"},"modified":"2020-06-03T17:17:06","modified_gmt":"2020-06-03T16:17:06","slug":"observations-on-ritual-symbol-and-commemoration-in-a-pandemic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/happ\/2020\/05\/28\/observations-on-ritual-symbol-and-commemoration-in-a-pandemic\/","title":{"rendered":"Observations on Ritual, Symbol and Commemoration in a Pandemic"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Dominic Bryan<\/em><\/h6>\n\n\n\n
Professor of Anthropology<\/em><\/h6>\n\n\n\n
22\/05\/2020<\/em><\/h6>\n\n\n\n
\n
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In Northern Ireland the Covid-19 lockdown started in the\nmiddle of March 2020 and by the 23rd we were officially social distancing. The\nfundamental reason for this strategy was to protect the National Health\nService, the \u2018front line\u2019 for saving lives. At 8.00pm on 26th March people\nacross the UK, most stuck in their homes, stepped out of their doors and leaned\nout of windows to acknowledge the NHS workers by clapping. This has been\nrepeated every Thursday during the lockdown gaining widespread publicity. In\naddition, people have been displaying rainbows from windows also in support of\nthe NHS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For those of us studying anthropology, this immediate\nrepresentation of our world through rituals, symbols and commemorations is not\na surprise. People need to find ways of creating a sense of community, a sense\nof common activity, and doing so when restricted from the public sphere is an\nact of resistance as well as an affirmation of cohesion.  And this has political ramifications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We should not assume the meaning that participants are giving to these rituals. People have different reasons for participation. What I think can be suggested is the power of these events in terms of promoting cohesion in a neighbourhood and in support for the health service and the enhanced status given to its workers. The power of this apparent national consensus will play out in the politics that follows the lock down. The symbol of the rainbow has taken on new political meaning and this will be important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The country was asked to observe a minute\u2019s silence at\n11.00am on 28th April for those key workers that have died. This was intended\nto coincide with International Workers’ Memorial Day on which people killed or\ninjured at work are annually remembered. This commemoration was founded by\ntrade unions in the US whilst in Canada, in 1984, a National Day of Mourning\nfor workers was instituted. Since 2001 the United Nations has recognised it as\nThe World Day for Safety and Health at Work. It is worth noting that whilst the\nTrade Union Congress cast this act of commemoration within this longer standing\nevent this was lost in media coverage. I am willing to bet that British Prime\nminister, Boris Johnson, had not recognised this day in the past. But will he\nin the future?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The use of \u201811.00am\u2019 and the minutes silence is also\nsignificant. In UK terms, it mimics the better know and better observed events\non Remembrance or Armistice Day when a minute\u2019s silence is also observed at\n11.00am to remember those who lost their lives in the service of the military.\nWe are of course well used to the way in which the monarchy and political elite\nline-up to be at the forefront of this event. But then this day is cast as of national\nremembrance enhanced by the idea that the conflicts the military serve in, are\nin all our interest: \u2018The Died For Us\u2019. This of course is not uncontested.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We might also note with concern that society sometimes appears better at commemorating the sacrifice of those who died in war than looking after those that ‘returned’. This would suggest that those in power find the act of commemoration easier (and cheaper) than the act of investing in the victims and survivors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is noticeable that this fits a common political discourse using war as a metaphor in dealing with the pandemic. As Costanza Musu<\/a> has already cogently argued this war time imagery of the front line, soldiers, sacrifice, and an \u2018army of workers\u2019 (The Sun Newspaper) is compelling but also dangerous. It places the struggle within highly nationalistic tones marginalising the global nature of the problem. Already leaders around the world have attempted to depict it as an \u2018invasion\u2019 introduced by foreigners. It also casts those in caring and healing professions alongside the military.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In Belfast there have been interesting local symbolic and\nritual interpretations of the pandemic. There is evidence of common support for\nthe institution of a public health service across the ethno-political\nboundaries that structure our society. As such, rainbows, which has become the\nsymbol for supporting front-line workers, have appeared in windows across\nBelfast. The Thursday night doorstep clap has taken place regardless of the\nethnic geography of the city. The NHS has been supported on murals on both\nsides of the ethno-political divide. Support for the NHS, popular with almost\neveryone, has been expressed in common public displays. Prior to March 2020 it\nwas difficult to imagine a cause that could garner such universal backing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet there are differences. The nationalistic approach to\n\u2018combating\u2019 the virus has been reflected in unionist areas of the city with the\nuse of Union Jack flags, some with \u2018Support the NHS\u2019 and \u2018Thank you to the NHS\nand all key workers\u2019 written across them. Others have engaged with the\nmilitaristic analogy with banners saying \u2018No Surrender to Covid-19\u2019. The\namazing exploits of 100 year old veteran, Tom Moore, who raised \u00a330 million\nwalking the length of his garden 100 times, was also depicted on a mural in\nClonduff, East Belfast, along with his military medals and a rainbow (see\nabove).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Irish nationalist areas the narrative has been based on the rainbow and NHS staff as superheroes. Whilst I would not want to exaggerate these differences, as unionist areas have many representations that do not use the symbols of Britishness, there are nevertheless contrasts in commemorative symbols and narratives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Why is this important? It is important because the financial and political implications of this, when the immediate crisis has past, will be enormous. The new symbolic status of the NHS and frontline workers will have a power that will be competed over by politicians. This will have massive ramifications for what gets publicly funded, and how. There is now competition with the military in the commemorative calendar. Consequently, who we depict as \u2018defending\u2019 the country will play out when government departments look at their budgets in years to come.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dominic Bryan Professor of Anthropology 22\/05\/2020 In Northern Ireland the Covid-19 lockdown started in the middle of March 2020 and by the 23rd we were officially social distancing. The fundamental reason for this strategy was to protect the National Health Service, the \u2018front line\u2019 for saving lives. At 8.00pm on 26th March people across the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":761,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lifeinlockdown"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/happ\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/happ\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/happ\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/happ\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/761"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/happ\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=251"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/happ\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":359,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/happ\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251\/revisions\/359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/happ\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/happ\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/happ\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}