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Claire Edwina Smith

Grant Type

Global Initiatives

Institutional Affiliation

Flinders U.

Grant number

Gr. GIG-1

Approve Date

June 8, 2020

Project Title

Smith, Dr. Claire, Flinders University, South Australia, Australia – To build capacity in anthropology by “Re-imagining anthropological fieldwork through the lens of COVID-19”

The COVID-19 pandemic is a watershed moment. For anthropology, it signals a world less travelled in which face-to-face methods may not be tenable. This research brings a fresh perspective to this crisis. Undertaken with the remote Aboriginal communities of Barunga, Beswick and Manyallaluk, Northern Territory, Australia, it is embedded in two innovations. The first is research designed to be undertaken without the anthropologist being present, by developing the skills of community researchers. The second is rconceptualizing the role of social researchers (archaeologists, anthropologists, linguists, ethnographers) as facilitators who undertake culturally-driven ground-breaking research, in this case developing culturally appropriate tools and strategies to help future-proof remote Aboriginal communities from pandemics.