Beyond Moral Injury: Temporal-Geopolitical Anxiety and the Affective Regime of Care in Taiwan during COVID-19

This article provides a critical examination of the affective experiences of clinicians in Taiwan during the COVID-19 pandemic, challenging the individualized diagnostic framework of "moral injury." While global scholarship has extensively documented the psychological distress of healthcare workers, this study posits that their moral experiences are inextricably intertwined with specific geopolitical anxieties and "affective regimes" of care. Combining ten months of qualitative research and in-depth interviews, the author analyzes how the temporality and spatiality of the pandemic influenced clinicians' emotional lives. The findings indicate that the experiences of Taiwanese clinicians—ranging from the sacrificial fervor of rèxiě (hot-bloodedness) to the strategic dread of being labeled "national sinners"—are not merely psychological reactions to trauma. Instead, they function as a form of "affective labor" mobilized to sustain national "biological citizenship" amidst Taiwan’s structural isolation from the global health community. By exploring the transition from the "affective capital" inherited from the 2003 SARS crisis to the "righteous anger" sparked by pandemic-era misinformation, this article underscores the political significance of emotions. Ultimately, the study advocates for a narrative-oriented, de-victimizing approach that acknowledges clinician subjectivity and addresses the macro-structural tensions underpinning their moral worlds, thereby offering a contextualized alternative to de-politicized trauma narratives.