Extraordinary Times Research Articles

Laughing through Brexit: Family humour practices, political troubles and everyday life

Humour has a well-established role in the public life of politics; however, its use within families affected by macro-level political events remains understudied. This article explores how families employed humour to navigate family troubles introduced by Brexit, the United Kingdom’s tumultuous exit from the European Union. Through an ethnographic study, we demonstrate how extraordinary political times test the positive relational potentials of humour. Families reframed situations through ‘playfulness’, exercised gentle and well-timed teasing, and digitally shared Brexit-related comedy objects to alleviate stresses and anxieties. However, the intensity of the Brexit drama rendered some family humour practices futile, and in particular circumstances, humour became an additional burden. By examining the interrelations of political events, everyday family practices and humour, this article demonstrates the integral role of humour in the reconstitution of familial relationships, the importance of craft, and the significance of relational and situational contexts to the successful deployment of humour.

Foreign language teaching modes and adaptive methods in emergency education: Evaluation of first-hand experience

Turbulent world events require crisis-sensitive education models that can address new challenges and promote productive learning in extraordinary times. The research aimed to analyze the issue of teaching a foreign language to undergraduate students using intervention techniques in online and offline modes. The researchers suggested the following responsive and adaptive strategies: the creation of adaptive online learning platforms, the development of a multimedia resources bank and the careful selection of innovative teaching tools capable of addressing both psychological and educational needs. The work in groups of both formats was studied through discussion and survey from the point of view of teachers’ perceptions of positive and negative features, difficulties revealed in the education in emergencies, and the productivity of using specially designed adaptive teaching techniques for coping with them. The findings show that in most aspects teachers have a more positive assessment of ‘live’ language teaching in comparison with the online format. They indicate such benefits as more coordinated work, a collaborative and engaging environment, controllability, and greater motivation. The most effective tools used for developing vocabulary, listening skills, reading skills, and speaking skills were revealed. The final testing results in both online and offline groups were analyzed to study the effectiveness of the employed intervention methods. The study demonstrates that the rigorous instructional design is of vital importance for education in an emergency. Special attention should be given to specific adaptive and responsive intervention technologies aimed at interaction and communication enhancement as well as psychological support of students, the choice of which can be determined by the distinctive features of different teaching formats.

Unpacking the knowledge dimensions of digital innovation: implications for accountability in public and private sectors during extraordinary times

Unpacking the knowledge dimensions of digital innovation: implications for accountability in public and private sectors during extraordinary times

Inescapable "absurdity": Rethinking Luther and Calvin’s view of “presence of the body of Christ” in the Lord’s Supper

Given the general lack of understanding among Chinese Protestant churches regarding the " Eucharistic theology" in the tradition of the Reformation, as well as the challenges posed by the global COVID-19 pandemic to administration of the sacrament, this article comparatively analyzes Martin Luther and John Calvin's understanding of the "presence of the body of Christ" in the Lord's Supper. This not only involves differences in their respective views on the sacrament but also the underlying theological debates regarding "Christology" and hermeneutics, particularly concerning the relationship between "faith" and "reason." The article emphasizes the necessity of re-focusing the "presence of the body of Christ," which not only clarifies orthodox Christological thoughts, but also concerns the realistic practice of "communion and unity in Christ." Through examining the theological expositions of Luther and Calvin, this article offers new insights into the understanding of the "presence of the body of Christ" in the Lord's Supper and provides a theological foundation for the contemporary church to administrate the sacrament during extraordinary times. This will help Chinese Protestant churches better understand the core significance of the Lord's Supper and promote the ecumenical movement of the universal Church.

Affect and rapid response collecting: exploring the significance of emotion in UK archives’ COVID-19 collecting projects

ABSTRACT This article explores the affective connotations and emotive implications of archiving in extraordinary times. It examines how ‘rapid response collecting,’ the practice of documenting crises, upheavals, and tragedies during their unfolding or in their immediate aftermath, is felt through an affect-centric examination of COVID-19 collecting in the UK archives sector. An anonymous, online survey of archivists involved in documenting the pandemic was conducted — the first empirical study of archives workers’ experiences of rapid response collecting — to assess emotional reactions and perceptions of wellbeing whilst undertaking rapid response collecting initiatives. Emergent themes surfaced by analysing the qualitative and quantitative data related to the idiosyncrasy of emotive potentiality, the influence of support and training in mitigating adverse psychological effects, and the current lack of fully embedded trauma-informed approaches in rapid response collecting efforts. Whilst acknowledging the particularities of COVID-19 collecting and the small scale of the study, this research indicates that educators, scholars, and professional bodies need to do more to prepare practitioners for the role emotions can play in rapid response collecting. It ultimately contends that a trauma-informed approach is essential if we are to protect the psychological safety of all in future rapid response collecting endeavours.

What extraordinary times tell us about ordinary ones: A multiple case study of precariously employed food retail and service workers in two U.S. state contexts during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Disease prevention relies on a complex interplay between social context and individual behaviors. Work and the employment conditions that shape it are key domains where this interplay occurs, a reality highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic. To explore the links between employment quality and social context as drivers of disease prevention, we conducted a multiple case study of food retail and services workers during COVID-19 in two U.S. states - Indiana and Washington - with differing norms and policy landscapes. We drew on public health surveillance data, government/NGO documents, and media sources to contextualize in-depth interviews with 26 precariously employed food workers. Analysis consisted of a within-case and a cross-case phase, each drawing on state contextual and interview data. Precariously employed food workers in Indiana and Washington had contrasting expectations of employers, government, and public health that we interpret as parallels of policies and norms in their respective states. Workers in both states discussed preventive behaviors in an individualized way, but appeared motivated by different constraints on their choices. Our study points to the importance of explicitly considering employment and the social safety net in public health to better prepare us for the next crisis and ameliorate health inequities under ordinary circumstances.

The Impact of Covid-19 Pandemic on Cryptocurrency Adoption in Investments: a Bibliometric Study

In the post-COVID-19 era, academic papers on changing financial investment habits are proliferating rapidly as the pandemic has disrupted economic and financial markets, altered investment decisions, and brought new risks and challenges. In addition to traditional market instruments such as gold, oil, and other commodities, cryptocurrencies have attracted new attention due to their dynamic and decentralized nature in these extraordinary times, which must be constantly analyzed from different angles. This paper aims to analyze the evolving academic interest in the adoption of cryptocurrencies for investment decisions, focusing on research papers published in the Scopus database between 2020 and 2023 through bibliometric analysis. The Scopus database provides high-quality publications that have been peer-reviewed and rigorously scrutinized, and the chosen time period corresponds exactly to the period that was sufficient to provide a significant amount of research. The choice of bibliometric research methodology supported our research question and significantly improved our understanding of the relationship between the rise in financial market usage related to COVID-19. The specific focus of this research shows a significant correlation between COVID-19 and cryptocurrencies as an investment option, as evidenced by the increasing number of academic papers and collaboration between numerous countries and institutions. The analysis of the bibliometric research results underlines the increasing importance of cryptocurrencies as alternative investment opportunities in the financial markets. A remarkable interest in this area can be observed globally, with leading countries such as China, India, the USA, the UK, and Malaysia driving research efforts. Through the use of bibliometric analysis, this study encourages cross-border collaboration and highlights the academic recognition of cryptocurrencies as viable investment opportunities in the international financial landscape. Investors, researchers, and policymakers are interested in the growing recognition of cryptocurrencies as a viable investment opportunity, which is reflected in increasing research collaborations and investment opportunities. These trends highlight the evolving landscape of financial markets and regulatory considerations.

Infection or inflection? Reflecting on constructions of children and play through the prism of the COVID-19 pandemic

During crisis times, what children are playing and what grown-ups think their games signify can become a focus of adult anxiety. The Play Observatory, a COVID-19 research project, drew on folklore studies and cultural histories of childhood to collect, document and understand what children were playing and doing during extraordinary times, in ways which were meaningful to children themselves. This article discusses some of the children’s and families’ contributions, juxtaposed with children’s contributions to the archive of childhood folklorists Iona and Peter Opie, to highlight and contest adultist interpretations around children’s play during difficult times. We suggest that these interpretations are rooted in particular social constructions of the child, of childhood and of play that reflect themes of innocence, purity and vulnerability, and the need for adult protection from contamination, both material and symbolic. We introduce the idea of ‘inflection’ to suggest how habitual and perennial forms of play may be made to temporarily accommodate contemporary issues by the players as opposed to the play (and hence the child) being ‘infected’ with troubling or distressing themes which detract from idealised constructs of childhood.

‘It's a sanity restorer’: Narcotics anonymous (NA) as recovery capital during COVID‐19 in Aotearoa New Zealand

AbstractNarcotics Anonymous has flourished globally across 143 countries as a key community response to problematic substance use, despite disruptions, including the COVID‐19 pandemic. This research sought to understand how the Aotearoa New Zealand Narcotics Anonymous (NA) community engaged with NA meetings online during the 2020–2021 COVID‐19 pandemic. During in‐depth, semi‐structured interviews, 11 NA members shared their stories of addiction, abstinence‐based recovery, experiences of NA and managing pandemic restrictions. A narrative analysis identified four tropes particularly relating to how community members managed during the pandemic: responding via technology; maintaining recovery connections; creating opportunities; and consistency. Each trope showcases how NA members were able to connect online and garner support for their abstinence‐based recoveries and, more generally, during unprecedented times. In addition, the NA members in this research narrated the opportunities the pandemic restrictions created for them, such as engaging with the NA programme in new ways and improving their quality of life. Members of NA were able to maintain their psychological, physical, spiritual and community wellbeing during the COVID‐19 pandemic primarily due to existing recovery capital—peer‐based support and the principles of the 12‐steps of NA. The implications are that access to peer‐based communities and salient recovery identities are pivotal during ordinary and extraordinary times. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement.

Ordinary People, Extraordinary Times: Living the British Empire in Jamaica, 1756 by Sheryllynne Haggerty (review)

Ordinary People, Extraordinary Times: Living the British Empire in Jamaica, 1756 by Sheryllynne Haggerty (review)

Leading in Extraordinary Times: Documenting Pandemic Stories through Graphic Recording

This field report documents—through the use of graphic recordings—the “Leading in Extraordinary Times” webinar series that ran throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Hosted by a team in the School of Leadership Studies at Royal Roads University in British Columbia, Canada, this series was notable for its use of a graphic recorder who joined each webinar and produced an image drawn in real time. We felt it was essential to document stories from this historical moment, not only through words and audio-visual recordings, but also through images. Following the webinar, each image was shared with participants, along with the video recording. At that time, free special topic webinars open to the public were still relatively novel. The success of this webinar series demonstrated that people were yearning for meaningful ways to connect online to reduce isolation and continue learning as wave after wave of the pandemic hit. We, therefore, saw a role we could play in both engaging and building community while hosting relevant, helpful, and timely dialogues throughout the pandemic. A summary of each webinar topic, together with the graphics and links to webinar recordings, are included in the report.

“Extraordinary powers for extraordinary times”: A conjunctural analysis of pandemic policing, common sense, and the abolitionist horizon

In this paper, we offer a conjunctural analysis of policing and incarceration, examining their expansion in relation to structural economic conditions over the last 50 years and interrogating how the sudden onset of the Covid-19 pandemic enabled extraordinary growth in policing powers in the Australian jurisdictions of New South Wales (NSW) and Victoria (VIC). We examine how popular support for police-led responses to crisis and fines as a common-sense solution to social problems were sought during the period that the Public Health Orders were in effect in the two states. We argue that the discursive project of naturalizing the police-led response to the pandemic—via official communications from the state governments as well as media coverage of the pandemic—attempts to further entrench a vision of law and order governance in which infrastructures of discipline and punishment are necessary and inevitable. We identify this vision as a direct barrier to abolition and a significant limit on the capacity to imagine alternative frameworks for justice. We end by considering a small archive of tweets from users in NSW and VIC published on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter (now called X) in 2020–21. We argue that this archive registers the way the common-sense status of the fine as an efficient, effective, and equitable punishment gives way to punitive fantasies about police and prisons. We read this archive alongside the broad refusal to pay Covid-related fines and the ongoing legal disputes contesting the legitimacy of their issuance, concluding by proposing that the conjunctural moment of the Covid-19 pandemic has given rise to unresolved contradictions between the naturalized logic of law and order crisis management and the potential for this logic to come undone.

“Our Teaching Transcends a Subject Matter”: Learning From Black Women Educators’ Beliefs about Literacy Instruction During Extraordinary Times

Background: The Covid-19 pandemic, the United States’ racial reckoning, and nationwide educational “anti-woke” legislation—along with long-standing accountability policies—acutely constrained teachers’ experiences and have solidified public portrayals of educators as mistrustful and docile. Yet research suggests that, in the face of school and societal constraints, Black women educators develop and enact beliefs about teaching that challenge prevailing opinion to provide equitable and just learning experiences for their students. The 2020–2021 school year, an extraordinary moment in the United States, provided an important context to understand Black women educators’ developing beliefs about teaching secondary literacy, a politicized and contested subject. Purpose: This study builds off of historical and contemporary research on Black women educators to understand how two teachers developed their beliefs about teaching literacy in a middle school with a diverse student population during the Covid-19 pandemic and in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement. Drawing on Black feminist theory and asset-based pedagogies, it also sought to understand what individual and collective meaning they made out of their teaching experience. Research Design: The qualitative study centered on two Black women educators who taught seventh-grade English language arts and history during the 2020–2021 school year. The two teachers worked at a suburban middle school serving a racially diverse student population. The study involved three interviews with each participant and seven group discussions with both participants throughout the year. I employed grounded theory methodology to analyze the data and to develop themes about how the teachers developed their beliefs about teaching literacy. Findings: During an extraordinary moment in the United States—characterized by the Covid-19 pandemic, hybrid instruction, and a countrywide racial reckoning—the participants felt empowered to call out the deficit ideologies that their colleagues voiced. Calling out deficit ideologies informed three beliefs about teaching literacy: upholding students’ humanity, elevating classroom discussion, and teaching a complex narrative of people of Color. These findings affirm the mutuality between action and beliefs and emphasize a more socially and politically oriented conceptualization of literacy pedagogy. Recommendations: This study informs how educational leaders can support Black women educators with professional learning that positions culturally affirming school expectations and critical self-reflection as a precedent to the empowering literacy instruction teachers could enact in classrooms. Future research can examine school-level and social factors shaping teachers’ knowledge, beliefs, and practices.

Less is more? Why do we find less severe mental and material impact of COVID-19 among the most marginalised and homeless in countries with lower welfare spending?

The study examines how various policy approaches in countries may have influenced the material and mental well-being outcomes of the COVID-19 pandemic among marginalised groups and people experiencing homelessness in Europe. In a structured country comparison case study approach, we combine country-based indicators, e.g., the level of infection, unemployment, and restrictions, with individual data from a cross-sectional survey with 226 participants from 6 European countries. Contrary to expectations, our results suggest that vulnerable people living in countries with low welfare expenditure report lower negative mental and material impact of the COVID-19 pandemic than people living in countries with high welfare expenditure countries. This unexpected result could be explained by higher expectations of the level of support they should have received during extraordinary times such as the pandemic among respondents in the studied high welfare expenditure countries. Due to our cross-sectional design across only six countries, we cannot generalise the trend to Europe and only speculate on the causal mechanisms behind the observed association. We also discuss factors like the accessibility of care organisations' support and pre-existing welfare policies. We suggest possible additional factors that may shed light on our results, noting that these issues need to be examined further in future studies with a more extensive study sample.

19세기 후반 고종의 불법 홍삼무역과 비자금

King Gojong paid attention to red ginseng trade, which could acquire silver, and exercised exclusive authority over red ginseng and red ginseng trade after opening the ports. After allocating most of Posam(포삼, Red ginseng for the trade of envoys) to the royal family in 1884, King Gojong directly controlled the red ginseng trade and collected the trade money. And he also engaged in illegal red ginseng trade.
 King Gojong’s illegal red ginseng trade had not been revealed because it was conducted in secret. However, it was revealed through slush funds given to Min Young-ik in 1885, illegal trade of 2,600 Keun(근, Korean Unit of Weight) of red ginseng in 1888, and smuggling 800 Keun of red ginseng into the Shanghai maritime customs in 1889.
 King Gojong illegally traded hundreds and thousands of Keun of red ginseng, he earned tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands of nyangs(냥, monetary unit of Joseon) of silver. He made the huge sum of money into slush funds.
 King Gojong’s slush funds were deposited at a foreign bank in Hong Kong under a borrowed account, and were used for political and diplomatic lobbying funds, political removal, and espionage activities. King Gojong’s illegal red ginseng trade was mainly carried out in Shanghai and Hong Kong in China.
 King Gojong’s illegal red ginseng trade and slush funds were a countermeasure against extraordinary times such as foreign pressure and invasion, and Joseon’s civil unrest and revolution. And it was King Gojong’s political choice to protect the throne and the throne. However, it was far from the policy of the enrich and strengthen of state and the provision of the poor national finances, which were urgent tasks at the time.

Alcohol policy framing in South Africa during the early stages of COVID-19: using extraordinary times to make an argument for a new normal

IntroductionPublic health and alcohol industry actors compete to frame alcohol policy problems and solutions. Little is known about how sudden shifts in the political context provide moments for policy actors to re-frame alcohol-related issues. South Africa’s temporary bans on alcohol sales during the COVID-19 pandemic offered an opportunity to study this phenomenon.MethodsWe identified Professor Charles Parry from the South African Medical Research Council as a key policy actor. Parry uses a Twitter account primarily to comment on alcohol-related issues in South Africa. We harvested his tweets posted from March 18 to August 31, 2020, coinciding with the first two alcohol sales bans. We conducted a thematic analysis of the tweets to understand how Parry framed alcohol policy evidence and issues during these ‘extraordinary times.’ResultsParry underlined the extent of alcohol-related harm during ‘normal times’ with scientific evidence and contested industry actors’ efforts to re-frame relevant evidence in a coherent and well-constructed argument. Parry used the temporary sales restrictions to highlight the magnitude of the health and social harms resulting from alcohol consumption, particularly trauma, rather than the COVID-19 transmission risks. Parry portrayed the sales ban as a policy learning opportunity (or ‘experiment’) for South Africa and beyond.ConclusionsCrisis conditions can provide new openings for public health (and industry) actors to make salient particular features of alcohol and alcohol policy evidence.

Corporate social responsibility and dividend payout policy in extraordinary time: Empirical study of South Africa

AbstractCorporate social responsibility (CSR) is a strategic tool that firms use to gain competitive advantage and enhance profitability in the long run, yet its effect on dividend payout in extraordinary times is limited. Grounded in stakeholder and dual responsibility theories, this study examines the effect of CSR on the relationship between COVID‐19 and dividend payout. Data from the period 2015–2021 were obtained from 114 non‐financial listed firms on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, South Africa, and analyzed by multivariate and logit regression techniques. COVID‐19 has a negative effect on the amount and likelihood of dividend payment, while CSR performance has a positive effect on the likelihood and amount of dividend payment. However, the result of the negative effect of COVID‐19 on dividend payment does not differ between high and low CSR performing firms. Conversely, the impact of COVID‐19 and CSR on dividend payment differ between high and low financial constraint firms. Shareholders should learn to manage their expectations of dividends payment during times of crisis like COVID‐19, as firms tend to focus more on addressing the needs of stakeholders through CSR initiatives, which will enhance profit in the long term, rather than paying out dividend to shareholders.

Wicked Heritage Problems: Rethinking Critical Heritage Theory with Contemporary Liminality

Since the turn of the twenty-first century, an anxious presentism has taken hold of our social and political reality. This condition rejects the lessons of the past, fears the future, and amplifies crises in the present moment, suspending whole societies in uncertainty. These extraordinary times demand innovation of heritage critique, which lacks a core framework for understanding how heritage interacts with the uncertainty of transition. This paper offers an innovative approach to the problem, arguing for transferring the paradigm of contemporary liminality from political anthropology into heritage studies. Contemporary political anthropologists have adapted liminality’s ritual structure to large-scale phenomena like war, revolution, and extreme transition to understand these experiences at the level of the communities living through them. With an epistemology free from the constraints of secular rationalism, contemporary liminality provides a framework for understanding heritage amid transition that sheds new light on core investigations into the politics of memory and identity. It also leads to the concept of a liminal heritage, heritage that takes on characteristics of its liminal context such as ambivalence, ambiguity, imitation, danger, deception, violence, and creativity.

How do consumers interact with social media influencers in extraordinary times?

PurposeConsumers are increasingly spending more time on social media platforms to cope with anxiety and loneliness resulting from the recent pandemic. The extraordinary times, characterised by isolation and lockdown, has placed increasing dependence on online technology as a coping mechanism in which social media influencers (SMIs) served as the human face of brands, helping both consumers and brands maintain human connection. How should practitioners navigate their social media campaigns in this changing environment?Design/methodology/approachTo answer this question, the Source Connectedness Pyramid is proposed to help explain and compare the interactions between consumers and SMIs in ordinary and extraordinary times.FindingsIn their interactions with influencers during ordinary times, consumers are satiated with influencer source characteristics of attractiveness, trustworthiness and expertise. However, during extraordinary times, consumers substitute their usual preference to focus on connectedness, characterised by relatedness, belongingness and attachment.Originality/valueThe empirical study within this paper lends support to this proposition and offers additional insights. The proposed Source Connectedness Pyramid contributes to influencer communication theoretically and has strategic implications for practitioners when navigating their social media campaigns in these extraordinary times.

Extreme work in extraordinary times: the impact of COVID-stress on the resilience and burnout of frontline paramedic workers – the importance of perceived organisational support

The COVID-19 pandemic has placed significant and extreme pressure on frontline healthcare workers, including paramedics. Yet, within the human resource management (HRM) literature, little is known about how working in extreme conditions affects individual behaviours and wellbeing, or how HRM may provide coping strategies. Drawing on conservation of resources theory (COR), our study provides insights into how COVID-stress influences paramedic burnout by considering the mediating role of resilience and the moderating role of perceived organisational support (POS). Findings from a survey of 648 paramedic workers employed in Victoria, Australia, during the height of the 2020 pandemic lockdowns confirm our hypotheses. COVID-stress was negatively related to resilience. We find that resilience mediated the positive relationship between COVID-stress and burnout. Moreover, POS acted as a protective buffer, thus reducing the negative effects of COVID-stress. We make an important contribution to the literature on extreme work, as represented by COVID-stress, by demonstrating that perceived organisational support is a key resource that supports and ensures the sustainability of paramedics engaging in extreme work.