Scenes of Shame and Stigma in COVID-19
Lead Research Organisation:
UNIVERSITY OF EXETER
Department Name: History
Abstract
The WHO has identified social stigma and discrimination related to COVID-19 as problems that need to be urgently addressed. Evidence shows that stigma directly impacts the efficacy of health interventions, while also exacerbating health inequalities - particularly along the lines of race, ethnicity, and class. In the UK, the first months of the COVID-19 crisis have demonstrated that instances of shame, shaming, stigma and discrimination are related to, and often arise from, public health interventions. As a result, there is an urgent need to investigate, understand and address stigma and shame related to COVID-19. 'Scenes of Shame and Stigma in COVID-19' will identify various sites and circumstances of shame, shaming, stigma and discrimination during the first 12 months (January-December 2020) of COVID-19 in the UK, with a particular concern to investigate how digital technologies, neoliberal ideologies and rapid global information exchange have changed the 'scenes of shame and stigma' when compared to previous respiratory pandemics. The project will produce and communicate a body of targeted, rapid and evidence-led recommendations regarding shame, shaming, stigma and discrimination related to COVID-19 to national and global public health bodies, including Public Health England, the NHS, and the WHO. Engaging scholars in philosophy, history and cultural studies, the project will also produce scholarly work identifying and historicising the 'scenes of shame and stigma' in COVID-19, to consider (i) the affective experiences of shame/shaming and (ii) how stigma is connected to broader institutional and political structures, practices and ideologies, along with uneven distributions of social power.
People |
ORCID iD |
| Luna Dolezal (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Dolezal L
(2022)
Differential Experiences of Social Distancing: Considering Alienated Embodied Communication and Racism
in Puncta: Journal of Critical Phenomenology
Dolezal L
(2023)
A Sartrean analysis of pandemic shaming.
in Phenomenology and the cognitive sciences
Dolezal L
(2023)
Fat shaming under neoliberalism and COVID-19: Examining the UK's Tackling Obesity campaign.
in Sociology of health & illness
Dolezal L
(2021)
COVID-19, online shaming, and health-care professionals.
in Lancet (London, England)
Rose A
(2022)
Closure and the Critical Epidemic Ending.
in Centaurus; international magazine of the history of science and medicine
Rose A
(2021)
Imagining Breath, Imagining 9/11 In Indra Sinha'S Animal's People
in Studies in the Novel
Stanier J
(2022)
Pandemic Politics and Phenomenology: Editors' Introduction.
in Puncta: Journal of Critical Phenomenology
| Description | The most significant achievement of the "Scenes of Shame and Stigma in COVID-19" project was the completion of a book co-authored by its three researchers, Fred Cooper, Luna Dolezal and Arthur Rose. The book titled, COVID-19 and Shame: Political Emotions and Public Health in the UK, contracted by Bloomsbury Academic for the Critical Interventions Medical Humanities book series, was released in 2023. This book provides an account of how shame and shaming were an intrinsic part of the UK's pandemic landscape during the calendar year of 2020, giving an analysis of how shame as a political emotion became explicitly mobilised through public health interventions, policies and communications. The book culminates with a positive recommendation of 'shame-sensitive public health', a far-reaching concept which has the potential to transform conceptions about shame within policy and public health. Alongside the book, the researchers developed a podcast series 'Shame and the Pandemic' produced by Volume, which explores the wider research of the project, and the findings of the book. In this vein, another significant achievement of this award is our policy engagement, with two key policy documents being disseminated. The most significant is a briefing, titled 'Shame-Sensitive Public Health and COVID-19' which has been prepared for the WHO Regional Office for Europe's Behavioural and Cultural Insights Unit. The briefing outlines how shame-sensitive work can reduce some of the social and personal harms related to COVID-19. |
| Exploitation Route | The findings of the "Scenes of Shame and Stigma in COVID-19" project will be relevant for policy makers and public health practitioners insofar as the idea of 'shame-sensitive public health' has the potential to transform understandings of shame's position within public health interventions, which at present, continue to rely on explicit and implicit shaming as a means to motivate behaviour change on the level of the individual. Researchers and practitioners in social policy and public health may take our findings forward in order to shift understandings of shame's utility within public health, and to ensure there is more 'shame-sensitivity' in terms of how shame is conceptualised and operationalised. In addition to being of interest to policy and public health, our findings, particularly in our forthcoming book COVID-19 and Shame: Political Emotions and Public Health in the UK will be of interest to scholars in medical humanities and related disciplines. |
| Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Education,Healthcare,Government, Democracy and Justice |
| Description | The potential for impact is emerging through the dissemination of our 2 policy briefings: (1) 'Shame-Sensitive Public Health and COVID-19' which has been prepared for the WHO Regional Office for Europe's Behavioural and Cultural Insights Unit and which is hosted by the joint Exeter-WHO Behavioural and Cultural Insights website, alongside WHO reports and literature; and (2) the 'Shame-Sensitive Practice and COVID-19' which is hosted by the Policy at Exeter, a platform which creates policy change through world-class research. These policy briefings have the potential to make a substantial impact on policy and practice. Shame-sensitive public health, and using a 'shame lens' to regard policy and practice in public health, is a paradigm shift, which could have important ramifications for how public health literature conceptualises shame, especially in relation to stigma, which is the dominant concept at present to help understand the social harms related to illness, disease and ill health. Within academic research, our novel approach to public health through the idea of using a 'shame lens' and arguing for 'shame-sensitive practice' will open new research avenues and possibly a paradigm shift in how shame, and related emotions, are regarded within health research. |
| Sector | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Education,Environment,Healthcare |
| Impact Types | Societal,Policy & public services |
| Description | Advisory Board member for Pandemic & Beyond Project |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
| URL | https://pandemicandbeyond.exeter.ac.uk/ |
| Description | Case study |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Implementation circular/rapid advice/letter to e.g. Ministry of Health |
| Description | Policy dissemination event |
| Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
| Policy Influence Type | Membership of a guideline committee |
| URL | https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/pandemic-beyond-communication-and-messaging-during-covid-19-tickets-2... |
| Description | Shame-Sensitive Practice and COVID-19 Evidence and recommendations from Scenes of Shame and Stigma in COVID-19. |
| Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
| Policy Influence Type | Membership of a guideline committee |
| URL | https://www.exeter.ac.uk/media/universityofexeter/research/policy/briefs/Shame-Sensitive_Practice_an... |
| Description | WHO Europe Policy Forum |
| Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
| Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
| URL | https://www.exeter.ac.uk/media/universityofexeter/research/policy/briefs/Shame-Sensitive_Practice_an... |
| Description | Participation in the Pandemic & Beyond Project |
| Organisation | University of Exeter |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We have been involved in the Pandemic and Beyond Project network of AHRC COVID-19 researchers, participating in workshops to facilitate knowledge exchange and networking, while also disseminating our policy findings. 'Scenes of Shame and Stigma in COVID-19' project is a featured case study https://pandemicandbeyond.exeter.ac.uk/case-studies/scenes-of-shame-and-stigma-in-covid-19/ Luna Dolezal discusses the project in Getting the Message Across, a documentary from a series created by Benedict Morrison for the AHRC funded Pandemic and Beyond project. Each film in the series focuses on a key way that Arts and Humanities research has contributed to COVID-19 recovery and response. https://www.youtube.com/watch?mc_cid=5140b24168&mc_eid=5d7b79afb3&v=_DSrVXVWC6I&feature=youtu.be |
| Collaborator Contribution | We have been involved in the Pandemic and Beyond Project network of AHRC COVID-19 researchers, participating in workshops to facilitate knowledge exchange and networking, while also disseminating our policy findings. The Pandemic and Beyond brings together 70+ teams of researchers across the UK who are exploring the wide-ranging impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic and looking for solutions. The virtual hub connects research teams with each other and with user groups and decision-makers. Their aim is to ensure that expertise and resources are shared and that decisions about how best to tackle the pandemic and its aftermath is informed by relevant research on culture, society, law, Arts and health. This work has laid important human foundations for resilience and recovery after the pandemic, and identified key ways in which we can 'build back better', across communities and across the country, reaching many of the individuals and groups who are often invisible to policy-makers. |
| Impact | The Pandemic and Beyond brings together 70+ teams of researchers across the UK who are exploring the wide-ranging impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic and looking for solutions. The virtual hub connects research teams with each other and with user groups and decision-makers. Our aim is to ensure that expertise and resources are shared and that decisions about how best to tackle the pandemic and its aftermath is informed by relevant research on culture, society, law, Arts and health. |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | "Social Distancing as Familiar and Unfamiliar: Considering Alienated Embodied Communication and Racism" Senses of Familiarity and Togetherness Workshop, University of Padova |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | This talk was attended by a mixture of academics, students, practitioners and members of the public. It has raised awareness of our project and our research findings. As a result of the talk we have made contact with several academics, projects and practitioners who have reached out to us after they heard the presentation. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | 'Healthcare Workers and Online Shaming During COVID-19', at the Media, Communication & COVID-19 Speaker Series, Bournemouth University, 27 October 2021 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | This talk was attended by a mixture of academics, students, practitioners and members of the public. It has raised awareness of our project and our research findings. As a result of the talk we have made contact with several academics, projects and practitioners who have reached out to us after they heard the presentation. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://bournemouth.cloud.panopto.eu/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=85da61d6-b570-48cf-9147-adce00e430... |
| Description | 'Young people and Covid-19: understanding loneliness and avoiding shame' talk at the WHO Europe Policy Forum on Behavioural and Cultural Insights: maintaining public support during Covid-19. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Fred Cooper delivered a talk titled 'Young people and Covid-19: understanding loneliness and avoiding shame' to over 50 WHO representatives and health policymakers, at the WHO Europe Policy Forum on Behavioural and Cultural Insights. The Shame-Sensitive Practice and COVID-19 policy document was circulated to all attendees. The SSSC team have prepared a briefing, Shame-Sensitive Public Health and COVID-19, for the World Health Organisation Regional Office for Europe's Behavioural and Cultural Insights Unit. Synthesising research from across the WHO European Region, the briefing makes the case for removing shame from public health interventions, and details how shame-sensitive work can reduce or mitigate some of the harms of COVID-19. The briefing will be hosted by the joint Exeter-WHO Behavioural and Cultural Insights website, alongside WHO reports and literature. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.exeter.ac.uk/media/universityofexeter/research/policy/briefs/Shame-Sensitive_Practice_an... |
| Description | 22.06.21 Psych Central Debbie-Marie Brown |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | This article has raised awareness of our project and our research findings. As a result of the article we have made contact with several academics, projects and practitioners who have reached out to us. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://psychcentral.com/blog/covid-19-shaming |
| Description | Book Launch COVID-19 and Shame: Political Emotions and Public Health in the UK |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | A well attended book launch to publicise and disseminate findings of the research team's book |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://shameandmedicine.org/book-launch/ |
| Description | Covidiots! Shame, Stigma and Bad Words during Covid-19 Medical Humanities Colloquy |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | This talk was attended by a mixture of academics, students, practitioners and members of the public. It has raised awareness of our project and our research findings. As a result of the talk we have made contact with several academics, projects and practitioners who have reached out to us after they heard the presentation. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9KUsGjJ5rM |
| Description | Documentary about AHRC Covid Projects |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | The Pandemic & Beyond project will feature the Scenes of Shame and Stigma in COVID-19 project in a 15-minute documentary about AHRC Covid Projects. The documentary will focus on the theme of "Getting the Message Across", and Luna Dolezal will speak about pandemic shaming, and fat shaming. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Dolezal, L. and Fischer, C. "Losing the Body-as-Home?: Nostalgia, Embodiment and the Phenomenology of Illness" Nostalgia Between Phenomenology and Psychoanalysis Workshop, University of Vienna |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | This talk was attended by a mixture of academics, students, practitioners and members of the public. It has raised awareness of our project and our research findings. As a result of the talk we have made contact with several academics, projects and practitioners who have reached out to us after they heard the presentation. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Expert panel at Northern Network for Medical Humanities Research (NNMHR) (In)visibility conference |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | An expert panel on Scenes of Shame and Stigma in COVID-19 at the Northern Network for Medical Humanities Research (NNMHR) (In)visibility conference at Durham University to raise awareness and disseminate research. This talk was attended by a mixture of academics, students, practitioners and members of the public. It has raised awareness of our project and our research findings. As a result of the talk we have made contact with several academics, projects and practitioners who have reached out to us after they heard the presentation. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Invited Talk: Fat Shaming and the 'Tackling Obesity' Campaign at Viral Rhetorics, GW4 Rhetoric in Society Event |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | This talk was attended by a mixture of academics, students, practitioners and members of the public. It has raised awareness of our project and our research findings. As a result of the talk we have made contact with several academics, projects and practitioners who have reached out to us after they heard the presentation. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Invited Talk: The Horizons of Chronic Shame at the Society for Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy (SPEP) 59th Annual Conference, |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | This talk was attended by a mixture of academics, students, practitioners and members of the public. It has raised awareness of our project and our research findings. As a result of the talk we have made contact with several academics, projects and practitioners who have reached out to us after they heard the presentation. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | http://www.spep.org/website/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/SPEP-59-2021-Program.pdf |
| Description | Invited Talk: The Politics of Shame at University of Roehampton RIP Lecture series |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | This talk was attended by a mixture of academics, students, practitioners and members of the public. It has raised awareness of our project and our research findings. As a result of the talk we have made contact with several academics, projects and practitioners who have reached out to us after they heard the presentation. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Invited Talk: 'Fat Shaming' under Neoliberalism and COVID-19: Examining the UK's 'Tackling Obesity' Campaign." at the Centre for Health, Humanities and Science, University of Bristol |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | This talk was attended by a mixture of academics, students, practitioners and members of the public. It has raised awareness of our project and our research findings. As a result of the talk we have made contact with several academics, projects and practitioners who have reached out to us after they heard the presentation. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Podcast series |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | It has become clear to us that there will be significant public interest in our research topic and findings and that a podcast would be an effective way to communicate these findings to a range of audiences. We have been speaking to researchers from the LSE's COVID and Care Research Group (particularly Nikita Simpson and Laura Bear) about how shame and stigma have been shaping lived experience for marginalised groups in the UK (through their research in Leicester). We have also had meetings with the Police's COVID recovery taskforce, led by Sara Crane. And spoken to a number of healthcare and public health practitioners. Through workshops with the UKRI-AHRC Pandemic & Beyond Project, we have explored different means to communicate research findings to broader audiences, and podcasts have come up as an effective and creative tool. The Pandemic and Beyond Project has been effectively using podcasts to communicate findings of AHRC COVID projects, and this medium has the advantage of reaching broad audiences across long periods of time. Through research networks, we have been put in touch with a podcast production company Volume (https://www.volume.africa) who have extensive experience producing research-led podcasts, including about health and health-relevant issues, and we have contracted them to produce a podcast series that looks at scenes of shame and stigma in the UK, focussing on particular findings that have come up in our research. The 6-episode series, which we are starting to produce, will focus on the topic/theme of a chapter of the book we are writing and will act as an accompaniment to the book. This will create another means for us to disseminate some of our key research findings, while directly addressing the aims of the project. The podcast could be used to attract media attention to our project, and more generally to more broadly address the issues of shame and stigma related to COVID with non-academic or practitioner audiences. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.volume.africa/shame-and-the-pandemic |
| Description | Scenes of Shame and Stigma Seminar Series |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The Scenes of Shame and Stigma in COVID-19 Seminar Series, organized at the University of Exeter as part of the UKRI-AHRC funded 'Scenes of Shame and Stigma in COVID-19' project, addresses the key role that shame and stigma have played in the COVID-19 public health crisis. With talks from established and emerging experts in sociology, anthropology, history and public health, this interdisciplinary seminar series examines the effects of shame and stigma during the pandemic, considering topics such as national responses, professional practice in medicine, community resilience, public health policy and BAME experience. The 'Scenes of Shame and Stigma in COVID-19' interdisciplinary Seminar Series ended in January 2022 and the recordings from each seminar are available online. Speakers have been asked to write blog posts about their seminars as a bite size way of disseminating their research. The Scenes of Shame and Stigma in Covid-19 Project's Seminar Series ran online monthly June 21 - Jan 22 with on average 50 people registering for each seminar, and on average 40-50 people watching the recordings on YouTube after the event. The series is open to the public. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://shameandmedicine.org/scenes-of-shame-and-stigma-in-covid-19-seminar-series/ |
| Description | Scenes of Shame and Stigma in COVID-19', Health Humanities Consortium Talk |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | This talk was attended by a mixture of academics, students, practitioners and members of the public. It has raised awareness of our project and our research findings. As a result of the talk we have made contact with several academics, projects and practitioners who have reached out to us after they heard the presentation. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Shame, Stigma and COVID-19 Blog |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Shame and stigma have been prominent features of the COVID-19 pandemic. Stigma, in particular, has been identified as an urgent issue related to COVID-19 by health organizations worldwide, including Public Health England, the CDC and the WHO. Stigma negatively impacts on health seeking behaviours, causes personal and social harm, and exacerbates existing social and health inequalities. In the UK, the first months of the COVID-19 crisis have demonstrated that instances of shame, shaming, stigma and discrimination are related to, and often arise from, public health interventions (e.g., consider the "Lepers of Leicester" resulting from the UK's first local lockdown or the on-going shaming of individuals for the use/non-use of face masks). This is of particular concern when considering the uneven distribution of social power, resources and health for BAME communities in the UK who are disproportionately impacted by COVID-19, and how these inequalities are, in turn, intimately related to experiences of stigma and shame. As we enter a new phase of 'living with the virus', emerging public health interventions need to be continuously assessed for their potential to produce shame, shaming, stigma and discrimination. For example, interventions such as local lockdowns, international and national quarantines, the use/non-use of face masks and other PPE, the proposed introduction of so-called 'immunity passports', or the use anti-body tests need to be managed carefully to avoid the stigma and shame that easily arises when populations are divided or stratified, especially in climates of fear and uncertainty. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://shameandmedicine.org/shame-stigma-and-covid-19/ |
| Description | Social Media |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Social Media and Website We promote the projects activities and research via our Project website (https://shameandmedicine.org/covid-19/ ) and via social media on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. We also promote all our project activities and research via the Pandemic and Beyond social media channels. There is a good engagement with our posts and Google Analytics shows it to be the most frequented page on our website. We have promoted the project and its seminar series through a variety of Newsletters including: The Shame and Medicine Project newsletter, The College of Humanities, University of Exeter Newsletter, and the Wellcome Centre for Cultures and Environments of Health Newsletter and various Medical Humanities forums across the world. Our blog posts are updated every few weeks and we have lots of readers from academia and beyond. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://shameandmedicine.org/blog/ |
| Description | To present a jointly authored paper titled a 'Sartrean Analysis of Pandemic Shaming' at Affective Enclaves event 5-6 Oct |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | This talk was attended by a mixture of academics, students, practitioners and members of the public. It has raised awareness of our project and our research findings. As a result of the talk we have made contact with several academics, projects and practitioners who have reached out to us after they heard the presentation. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |