Mask self-production during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic: lessons from a flash practice

Abstract

Abstract This article examines the self-production of washable and reusable sanitary masks during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic by focusing on the varied concerns, skills, and material resources that people mobilized. Based on hundreds of testimonials gathered at three key moments of the pandemic in France, we describe mask-self production as a “flash practice.” The immediate life-threatening context put the focus on basic and short-term concerns at the expense of other aspects (such as care for the environment, which played a surprisingly inconsequential role). Nonetheless, this household-based practice quickly evolved into a more collective undertaking with masks being self-produced together by sharing patterns and standards and by donating masks to others. We also show that the practice vanished very fast, as commercial masks became available again. Because flash practices disappear and can quickly fall into oblivion, we hold that researchers need to document and theorize them carefully, for flash practices raise important questions about the temporality, sustainability, and routinization of concerned practices.