The ‘Myth of Zero-COVID’ Nation: A Digital Ethnography of Expats’ Survival Amid Shanghai Lockdown during the Omicron Variant Outbreak

Benjamin H. Nam, Hans-Jörg Luitgar Weber, Yuanyuan Liu and Alexander Scott English
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Benjamin H. Nam: School of Education, Shanghai International Studies University, Shanghai 201613, China
Hans-Jörg Luitgar Weber: School of Education, Shanghai International Studies University, Shanghai 201613, China
Yuanyuan Liu: School of Education, Shanghai International Studies University, Shanghai 201613, China
Alexander Scott English: Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 15, 1-16

Abstract: This study presents a digital ethnography of expats’ survival amid the Shanghai lockdown during the Omicron variant outbreak. This study drew insights from studies on resilience and secondary coping within the context of global migration to comprehend the diverse emotional challenges faced by expats in a series of lockdowns and persistent nucleic acid amplification tests. Thus, this study asks what the major emotional challenges expats faced and what sources of social support they could draw from citizens in their host country during the Shanghai lockdown. Accordingly, this study collected WeChat group conversations to draw empirical findings, promoted scholarly conversations about fundamental survival necessity, and traced the process for establishing intercultural collective resilience with citizens from their host country. Overall, this study emphasized the significance of host country members who can promote certain coping mechanisms for their visitors in the specific regional and geographical context of China.

Keywords: global migration; resilience; secondary coping; social media; COVID-19 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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