Claire Edwina Smith

Across the world, COVID-19 constituted an unimagined challenge for field-based disciplines such as anthropology: how can anthropologists conduct research if they can’t conduct fieldwork? This research responded by instituting a new way of collecting data. The research was designed to be undertaken without the anthropologist being present, by developing the skills of community researchers. The data was collected by community researchers and transmitted by phone. This involved a reconceptualizing the role of social researchers (archaeologists, anthropologists, linguists, ethnographers) as facilitators who undertake culturally-driven research, in this case developing culturally appropriate tools and strategies to help future-proof remote Aboriginal communities from pandemics.    This research identified the cultural barriers and enablers to compliance with COVID-19 health protection measures in the Aboriginal communities of Barunga, Beswick and Manyallaluk, located in remote parts of the Northern Territory, Australia. We identified three critical cultural barriers to the take-up of health care services by Aboriginal people from remote communities: trust, communication and belief. This research contributes to building global capacity in anthropology by recording and analysing cultural understandings of, and responses to, World Health Organization-sanctioned COVID-19 isolation, quarantine and health hygiene measures in the Aboriginal communities in remote parts of Australia.