About the project
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Mass Observation Archive collected thousands of diaries and other writing from British residents. This project will combine methods from human geography and the digital humanities to analyse this large qualitative dataset and to advance understandings of individual and group resilience during pandemic-like societal disruptions.
The COVID-19 pandemic was one of the most significant disruptions to human life across the globe for a century or more. During the pandemic, the Mass Observation Archive collected thousands of diaries and other biographical writing from British residents. This project will analyse Mass Observation’s COVID-19 Collections for evidence of how individuals, families, friendship groups, and communities responded to the shock of the pandemic; and the factors explaining why some individuals and groups responded – to bereavement, illness, social distancing, lockdown, shielding, fulough, home-schooling – with more or less brittleness or elasticity. Theoretical frameworks and methods of analysis will be drawn from human geography and the digital humanities, and may include: systems approaches to resilience; conjunctural approaches to crises; narrative analysis; sentiment estimation and tracking; entity recognition of institutions, places, and social relationships; and digital forensic analysis.
Training will be provided in approaches and techniques as appropriate. The student will develop skills and experience in organising and analysing large qualitative datasets. The project will advance understandings of how individuals and groups respond to shocks like pandemics, and why some respond with more resilience. Findings and recommendations will contribute to preparedness for future pandemics and other crises (social, economic, environmental). In communicating these findings and recommendations, the student will benefit from placement on the Programme for Interdisciplinary Resilience Studies (PIRS). They will also benefit from membership of the Economy, Society, Governance (ESG) Research Group in the School of Geography and Environmental Science, and Southampton Digital Humanities (SDH) in the School of Humanities.
