CALL FOR PERSONAL ACCOUNTS AND REFLECTIONS ON EVERYDAY LIFE DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

We are collecting material for a research project that examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on everyday life and experiences. The researchers responsible for the project are Venla Oikkonen (Academy Research Fellow, Tampere University) and Elina Hartikainen (Academy Research Fellow, University of Helsinki). Venla Oikkonen is a cultural studies and science studies scholar who has investigated cultural discourses around biomedicine, especially in relation to vaccines, infectious diseases, genetic ancestry, and embodiment. Elina Hartikainen is an anthropologist who has studied the moral contours of religious politization in relationship to state governance and law. In our joint project, we seek to understand how experiences of the pandemic emerge and are made sense of in relation to place and locality, societal and political developments, and the global reach of the pandemic. We invite all those interested to write accounts of their experiences of living with, or in anticipation of, COVID-19. The texts can be of any length. We are particularly interested in the following themes: How does it feel to anticipate or wait for an infection? How does anticipation feel as a bodily experience? How does it feel like to move in space in relation to other people who may (or may not) be a source of infection? Which spaces feel safe or unsafe, and why? How does it feel like to anticipate symptoms of COVID-19 infection? Do you think about your past experiences of illness? How do you notice your everyday rhythms and habits changing in anticipation of the virus? What kinds of new daily habits have you developed in anticipation of infection? How have recommended practices such as washing hands, not touching your face or avoiding handles and rails in public places changed your experience of your body and its material surroundings? How does your body react to having to abandon its regular physical routines, such as indoor sports, dance classes, swimming, or other physical activities? Have you engaged in new types of “safe” exercise, such as trail running or home yoga, and how does it feel? What kinds of moral questions does the COVID-19 pandemic raise in relationship to everyday life, especially when the sources and effects of infection are not always evident? How do you ponder and negotiate these moral questions in relationship to ideas of risk to yourself or others? For example, will you visit a lonely elder, meet with friends, eat out, go to the grocery store, take public transportation, continue participating in hobbies, keep your children home from school, daycare or playdates? How do you justify your decisions on these questions? How do you relate your decisions to those of others in your social surroundings? How do you ponder them in relation to restrictions posed by governing bodies (such as school closings, recommendations or orders for social distancing) that stand in conflict with the realities of social and professional obligations to for example family, friends, local organizations or businesses, employers or employees? How does it feel to read government recommendations when it is impossible to follow them fully? In addition to personal accounts and reflections on these themes, we invite “pandemic diaries”, in which we ask writers to write down and reflect on their experiences of living in a pandemic in diary form. These diaries can take a variety of forms. You can write daily or once a week, for several weeks or several months, your entries can be a few sentences or several pages long, and their focus can vary. The collected texts will be treated confidentially and full anonymity will be guaranteed. Only researchers involved in the project will have access to the data. If the writer gives their consent, the anonymized texts will be stored in the research archive Zenodo after the project, so that the materials may be used by other research projects. Giving consent for archiving of personal accounts and reflections is voluntary and consent can be withdrawn anytime during or after the project. The data collected will provide the basis for publications directed at international and Finnish scientific and general audiences. The aim of the study is to produce new knowledge and understanding of the impact of all-encompassing societal health crises on everyday life and experience. Practical instructions: At the beginning of the text, please provide the following background information: If the anonymized text can be included in a research archive after the project. Your age Gender (freely defined by you) City/region/country Living arrangements (e.g. living alone/together, family members you are responsible for) There is no deadline for texts. They will be collected throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. For submission instructions, see: https://research.uta.fi/oikkonen/everyday-experiences-of-the-covid-19-pandemic-koronaviruspandemia-arjessa/?fbclid=IwAR3Jd64MQV65mZhRV6qxqHz2kQmO05-OXq46h5VtTWzHo5iYSavcf7oTU70