This project came about from the imperative we felt to document social experiences of living with Covid-19 across Southeast Asia– how it is being experienced and understood, uncovering common and divergent experiences, vulnerabilities and coping strategies. "Living with COVID-19 in Southeast Asia: Personal and Visual Experiences of Crisis, Control, and Community" is a collaborative and exploratory digital database of oral history interviews and crowdsourced images documenting the experiences of life amid the Covid-19 pandemic in Southeast Asia. In May 2021, we hosted a webinar launch event of the archive that was created out of our project, consisting of the oral history and visual sources gathered in this period, with a collaborative network of national teams in Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

The project grapples with patterns of response, resilience and recovery and examines implications for the future of the region. In doing so, we anticipate that the project will continue to evolve and contribute to scholarly knowledge on Covid-19 as a moment of crisis, control and community crucial in the socio-political and economic development of Southeast Asian and humanity as a whole. 

Researchers interested in seeking collaboration with the project are strongly encouraged to contact the Investigators. To access the project website, please click here.

PI & Co-PI(s): Gerard McCarthy, Naoko Shimazu & Yang Yang

Funding Agency: ARI Research Grant (Collaborative)