ABSTRACT

This article explores some of the ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic has served as a collective critical event for anthropologists and other social scientists, examining how it has promoted new configurations of the research imagination. We draw on our own experiences of participating in a team of 17 researchers, hailing from anthropology and anthropology-adjacent disciplines, to research social life in Aotearoa/New Zealand during the pandemic, examining how our own research imaginations were transformed during, and via, the process of our collaboration. When our project first began, many of us had doubts reflective of norms, prejudices and anxieties that are common in our disciplines: that the group would be too large to function effectively, or that it would be impossible to develop an approach to authorship that would allow everyone to feel their contributions had been adequately recognised. In practice, the large group size was a key strength in allowing our group to work effectively. Difficulties with authorship did not arise from within the group but from disconnects between our preferred ways of working and the ways authorship was imagined within various professional and publishing bodies. We conclude that large-scale collaborations have many points in their favour, and that the research imaginations of funders, journals, universities and professional associations should be broadened to ensure that they are encouraged, supported and adequately rewarded.

摘要

本文探讨了 COVID-19 大流行如何成为人类学家和其他社会科学家的集体关键事件，研究它如何促进研究想象力的新配置。我们利用自己参与一个由 17 名来自人类学和人类学相关学科的研究人员组成的团队的经验，研究大流行期间 Aotearoa/新西兰的社会生活，研究我们自己的研究想象力在期间和通过我们合作的过程。当我们的项目刚开始时，我们中的许多人都对我们学科中常见的规范、偏见和焦虑表示怀疑：团队太大而无法有效运作，或者不可能开发出一种让每个人都觉得他们的贡献得到了充分认可的作者身份方法。在实践中，庞大的团队规模是让我们团队有效工作的关键优势。作者身份的困难并非来自团队内部，而是来自我们首选的工作方式与各种专业和出版机构对作者身份的想象方式之间的脱节。我们得出的结论是，大规模合作有很多好处，应该拓宽资助者、期刊、大学和专业协会的研究想象力，以确保他们得到鼓励、支持和充分奖励。庞大的团队规模是我们团队高效工作的关键优势。作者身份的困难并非来自团队内部，而是来自我们首选的工作方式与各种专业和出版机构对作者身份的想象方式之间的脱节。我们得出的结论是，大规模合作有很多好处，应该拓宽资助者、期刊、大学和专业协会的研究想象力，以确保他们得到鼓励、支持和充分奖励。庞大的团队规模是我们团队高效工作的关键优势。作者身份的困难并非来自团队内部，而是来自我们首选的工作方式与各种专业和出版机构对作者身份的想象方式之间的脱节。我们得出的结论是，大规模合作有很多好处，应该拓宽资助者、期刊、大学和专业协会的研究想象力，以确保他们得到鼓励、支持和充分奖励。