Covid as a Cultural Phenomenon: Changing Perceptions and Daily Life Among International Students in Prague, Czech Republic

• Thesis title in Czech: Covid jako kulturní fenomén: Změna vnímání a každodenní život mezi zahraničními studenty v Praze, Česká republika
• Thesis title in English: Covid as a Cultural Phenomenon: Changing Perceptions and Daily Life Among International Students in Prague, Czech Republic
• Key words: COCOVID-19, zahraniční studenti, online vzdělávání, prožité zkušenosti, Praha
• English key words: COVID-19, International Students, Online Education, Lived Experiences, Prague
• Academic year of topic announcement: 2021/2022
• Thesis type: Bachelor's thesis
• Thesis language: angličtina
• Department: Department of Sociology (23-KS)
• Supervisor: doc. Alessandro Testa, Ph.D.
• Author: hidden - assigned by the advisor
• Date of registration: 06.06.2022
• Date of assignment: 06.06.2022
• Date and time of defence: 23.06.2023 09:00
• Venue of defence: Jinonice - Nový Kampus, B228, 228, seminární místnost ISS
• Date of electronic submission: 30.04.2023
• Date of proceeded defence: 23.06.2023
• Opponents: Shreya Bhardwaj, Ph.D.

References

8. References

- Ahmed, H., Brannen, S., & Newton, H. (2020). COVID-19 Reshapes the Future. Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep25198
- Arthur, S., Mitchell, M., Lewis, J., & McNaughton Nicholls, C. (2003/2014). Designing Fieldwork: Creative and visual methods. In J. Ritchie, J. Lewis, C. McNaughton Nicholls, & R. Ormston (Eds.), Qualitative Research Practice: A Guide for Social Science Students & Researchers (2nd ed.). Sage.
- Collins, C., Haase, D., Heiland, S., & Kabisch, N. (2022). Urban green space interaction and wellbeing - investigating the experience of international students in Berlin during the first COVID-19 lockdown. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, 70, pp.1-9. doi:10.1016/j.ufug.2022.127543
- Irons, R. (2020). Quarantime: Lockdown and the global disruption of intimacies with routine, clock time, and the intensification of time-space compression. Anthropology in Action, 27(3), pp.87-92. https://doi.org/10.3167/aia.2020.270318
- Methodological Appendix: Exploring Where the “Self” and “Study” Intersect: A Reflection on Method. (1998). Counterpoints, 28, pp.215–234. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/42975287
- Shrier, D. L. (2021). From Shock to Awe: How the pandemic crisis has opened up the dialogue for a true reinvention of education. Horizons: Journal of International Relations and Sustainable Development, 19, pp.64-73. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/48617354
- Spencer, L., Ritchie, J., O’Connor, W., Morrell, G., & Ormston, R. (2003/2014). Analysis in Practice. In J. Ritchie, J. Lewis, C. McNaughton Nicholls, & R. Ormston (Eds.), Qualitative Research Practice: A Guide for Social Science Students & Researchers (2nd ed.). Sage.
- Testa, A. (2020). Where have the gatherings gone? Reweaving the social fabric in the time of pandemic and interpersonal distancing. Social Anthropology, 28(2), pp.366–367. https://doi.org/10.1111/1469-8676.12816
- Yeo, A., Legard, R., Keegan, J., Ward, K., McNaughton Nicholls, C., & Lewis J. (2003/2014). In-depth interviews. In J. Ritchie, J. Lewis, C. McNaughton Nicholls, & R. Ormston (Eds.), Qualitative Research Practice: A Guide for Social Science Students & Researchers (2nd ed.). Sage.

Preliminary scope of work

1. Statement of the problem

COVID-19 has taken and affected many lives; it has left numerous people with mental and physical stains. At the beginning of the outbreak, the world was consumed by panic and fear of the ‘unknown’. During the first year, governments and authorities all around the world took various measures to fight the virus and keep citizens safe. The most common measures included restricting socialization and social contact in order to limit the spread of the virus. For schools, universities, private and public sectors, often public transportation, upscale and small businesses, etc this meant ‘going online’. The phenomenon of online activities was novel for most people and businesses. The first few months of transitioning from ‘normal lives’ to a lockdown, and then to the online sphere were hectic. Some schools and universities struggled to transition due to several reasons, such as the lack of mobility, preparedness, resources, etc; Teachers, professors, and students had difficulties with transforming their living rooms into a classroom, sitting in an empty room while teaching, internet connection issues, lacking in-person communication and sometimes, even lacking online interactions.


2. The social agents

COVID-19 has changed the value of offline education and the true meaning of being an international student. International students have suffered from entry restrictions and lockdowns in their origin countries thus they have felt stuck in the liminal spaces. Generally, student years are supposed to be the most memorable and miscellaneous in terms of meeting new people outside of one’s social group, experimenting with different things, and finding one’s true self and true interests. For international students, the stakes can be slightly higher than for national students for the following reasons: traveling to a new country, experiencing different phases of cultural shock, familiarizing with a new language or learning a foreign language, acquiring international friends, and constructing relationships, being independent and taking care of oneself. However, with COVID-19 restrictions and ‘going online’, international students either stayed in their countries or traveled to a country of destination and sat at home under the lockdown. The pandemic has affected and changed the experiences of international students all around the world and has altered their college years.


3. Merit of studying the problem

COVID-19 has affected distinct countries, cultures, societies, families, and individuals differently; experiences of people within one society, as well as of nations compared to other nations will undoubtedly be unique. For instance, some countries have taken more extreme measures in relation to others. Moreover, restrictions and the strictness of rules have varied. Some citizens have lost a loved one(s), or suffered from the virus greatly, whereas some citizens have not been infected and/or have not lost anyone close. Some individuals who have not experienced any of the above mentioned could have COVID-related mental conditions, such as PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), or could have lost their job, a relationship, etc. There are vast possible conditions for differing experiences.

International students could also plausibly experience one or more above-mentioned scenarios and additionally, did experience the liminal stage. The lockdowns, restriction of free movement, limited socialization, and ‘the feeling of being stuck’ could be the characteristics of international students’ experiences of the pandemic. International students in Prague, Czech Republic, even though potentially belong to the same social group within the foreign country, will have different backgrounds, experiences, and perceptions of the pandemic; they will have different emotions, feelings, and attitudes. Perceiving the pandemic as a cultural phenomenon will aid in understanding what types of experience international students underwent and what deficits they faced, and whether or not there are any common patterns among them.



4. Research questions

How do international students in Prague interpret and define their daily life during COVID-19?
Which cultural strategies did the international students use to struggle with social isolation?
How did the international students’ cultural background help/hinder them in coping with restrictions or physical discomfort in their everyday lives?
In what ways did the international students’ daily life encounter the popular culture change during the pandemic?



5. Methods of data production

5.1 Methodology

To understand the research topic better, first, I will conduct a literature review and empirical research of similar studies about COVID-19 and international students in the European vicinity. The most important method of data production for this research study will be semi-structured face-to-face interviews with international students in Prague (who graduated, are graduating, or will be graduating in the timespan 2019 to 2024) (Yeo et al., 2003/2014). The interviews will be offline, with the exception of particular circumstances.
Fortunately, the pandemic is almost over; vaccines and medicine have been created and the world has found a successful way to fight the virus. The latter suggests that COVID-19 has become foregone for most people and they understand it as a history. To aid our respondents in relating to their own memories, I will also use the photo-elicitation technique in interviews, portraying 5 to 10 general and well-known pictures or concepts that will remind the participants of COVID-19. “...in photo-elicitation, participants are asked to take visual images (this may be using cameras provided by the research team, or their own cameras/camera phones), that represent aspects of their lives or of the phenomenon being studied.” (Arthur et al., 2003/2014).


5.2 Self-reflection

Due to the reason that I, as an author, am part of the subject group, I will also utilize self-reflexive analysis to control any bias or subjective influence (Methodological Appendix: Exploring Where the “Self” and “Study” Intersect: A Reflection on Method, 1998). It is crucial to underline and understand that I, as an international student living in Prague during the pandemic, also belong to the subject group of this academic research and that COVID-19 has affected my student years as well. I have neither lost loved ones, nor have they suffered from the virus, but I have lost one year of my student life. Pandemic has changed the course of every individual including me and it is certainly a considerable chapter of my life. I acknowledge that my experience and close proximity to the research topic increase the risks of bias, misunderstanding, and misinterpretation, and I will take into consideration the risks of subjectiveness throughout the paper, in every step of the research and analysis.


6. Methods of data analysis

The interviews will be semi-structured and separated into two parts: first - the proper interviews, and second - the photo-elicitation discussions with individual respondents. The voice recordings of interviews will be transcribed and, utilizing thematic coding, results will be thematically coded. Naturally, the interviews will be unique but focused on the same topic. Afterward, the results with the emerged codes will be further analyzed with the main goal to a) understand the similarities and differences between individual participants’ thoughts regarding the same phenomenon and b) recognize if there are any underlying similar patterns, common themes, or ideas among international students in Prague. After thematic coding, the categories of characteristics will emerge from the raw data; some of these categories, hopefully, will be linked and the connections will be used to interpret the results (Spencer et al., 2003/2014).

7. Literature review

Since I am just starting to explore my BA thesis topic, I do not have much literature to utilize and cite. The following paragraphs are solely impressions from a few studies I have chosen until this moment. Nonetheless, I intend to get familiar with and go through the pertinent literature as the research for the thesis unfolds.

COVID-19 has changed life as we knew it before March 2020, when coronavirus was declared a global epidemic by the World Health Organization; it has changed everyday practices and human activities substantially. Education, as well as numerous other fields, has shifted to the online space. In the beginning, most schools and universities were not ready for the prompt transition due to the lack of resources, and this shift and the rapidly aggravating epidemiological situation “... have caused painful adjustments and highlighted shortcomings in unequal access to technology [in the educational sphere]...” (Brannen et al, 2020). The majority of people, nonetheless of their occupation, had difficulties getting accustomed to the online sphere and to the altered time perception (Irons, 2020). Both teachers and students, and additionally parents, struggled with work-at-home or learn-from-home experiences. As the virus-fighting mechanisms evolved and the vaccine was created, most classrooms shifted from exclusively online to a hybrid model, which allowed students and teachers/professors to return to in-person education while maintaining an online platform for individuals who could not attend for several reasons, such as being in quarantine. However, in the beginning, the hybrid model had its cons; vaccination rollout has been fluctuating in different countries, thus for professors who are at COVID risk age it was dangerous to interact with students in-person, especially in international programs (Shrier, 2021).

A lot of people have developed a tendency to stay at home; numerous have become introverts and forgotten how to socialize and perform simple social activities. Even though the pandemic has affected humans variously, the most common trait of post-COVID life is the decreased need and desire for human contact; on the opposite, it has increased the feelings of anxiety, fear and panic, and the need for the personal space (Collins et al, 2022). Students have got accustomed to attending lectures online in the comfort of their own rooms, having cameras and microphones turned off, and not paying as much attention as they would during physical lectures. On the contrary, some people have understood the meaning of physical interaction only when it has become a restriction; some people have been “...craving to re‐establish that ‘collective effervescence’ (Durkheim 1912) that thrills and fulfils the masses, shaping them into local communities, vicinities and groups.” (Testa, 2020). International students, who were not able to break through the restrictions and lockdowns to travel to the destination country, were stuck in-between the old life and the awaiting student experiences.


8. Ethical consideration

I recognize the importance of honoring the authors of the academic resources that will be used as references in this academic paper. I will not use their work without proper referencing, and I will not take their opinions out of context. I have looked through and made myself familiar with the “European Textbook on Ethics in Research” and “Research Ethics in Ethnography/Anthropology”, and I will take into account what I have learned. I acknowledge the scale of COVID-19 and the sensitiveness of the topic, and that the pandemic harmed and damaged many individuals’ lives and caused immense suffering. I recognize the importance of ethical considerations in this topic and I ensure to be sympathetic, moderate, and objective nonetheless of the nationality, gender, background, and experience of individual participants. Respondents will be provided the written form of their rights and the consent form beforehand and will be asked to thoroughly read and then sign before starting the interview. Participants’ confidentiality and anonymity will be protected.