It has now become common knowledge that strict measures for social distancing and quarantine are key ingredients in the battle against the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Needless to say, the resulting restrictive lifestyle left many shocked and confused as the people had to let go of things which they often took for granted.

Over the past month, the Maltese government and the health authorities have been gradually implementing preventative and controlling measures to help reduce the impact of the virus in the country. The country now finds itself in a situation where, under certain circumstances, even the simple act of leaving the house could cost result in a fine.

So, why exactly are reports of people not following protocol still cropping up? Is such defiance something related to our mentality as a people, or perhaps to Maltese culture?

spoke with anthropologist Prof Mark Anthony Falzon, who gave his opinion about these questions while outlining the impact that these newly imposed limitations have had on our culture.

Falzon did not quite agree with the idea that people are generally failing to follow the measures that the State has put in place.

“You see, the question we should be asking is not why some people are disobeying the rules, but rather why so many are obeying them. This especially since the rules are so draconian,” he said.

With police dispersing and fining people out for a walk in groups larger than three, and asking people to keep a two metre distance, it is difficult to understand how people have so easily adapted to it, he said. “Obedience and docility are not the default position, but rather cultural and political products.”

In his opinion the key question is: how does a State manage to convince people to part with their most fundamental freedoms so quickly?

The impact that this restrictive lifestyle has had on Maltese culture

“I’d rather not assume some sort of unitary national ‘Maltese culture’: there is culture in Malta, there are cultural forms that we imagine as endemic and defining, but that’s about it,” Falzon said. “In any case, the impacts have to do with things like the rhythms of life, for example. I mean both everyday rhythms and seasonal ones.”

He explained that with everything getting cancelled or banned, people may have trouble structuring time.

“People may find it hard to imagine, that is, to inhibit and experience, a year without a village feast or any other yearly celebrations, like Holy Week. The impact becomes more pronounced when considering that spaces where cultural activities take place have been closed down or marked as out of bounds.”

Even something as simple as weekends may lose their significance, Falzon said: “I’ve overheard people say things like ‘I didn’t even realise that it’s the weekend.’”

Another casualty he mentioned is what might be referred to as mobility cultures. This includes travelling to Gozo for the weekend, for example, or going abroad for a summer holiday.

“We are now expected to live and cultivate culture in the most unfamiliar of places. The COVID19 measures force us to redefine, in an unreasonably and unrealistically short time, the temporalities and the spatialities of culture,” he explained.

also asked Falzon about the seeming rise in reported petty crimes ever since such measures started being implemented.

He explained that while he is neither a criminologist, nor is he privy to the detailed statistics, one can suppose that economic difficulties force the hardest hit to turn to other forms of survival.

“I’m not saying that the poor are criminals or that when people lose their jobs they naturally become thieves. But put someone in a position where they can’t put food on the table, and they might turn to things like shoplifting. I know I would.”