“Isn't it ironic…!?!” Mobility researchers go sedentary: A group auto‐ethnography on collective coping and care in pandemic times

Abstract

We moved places and places moved us, until force majeure detained us on the spot. Signed-up to be hyper-mobile Ph.D.-candidates, we became hyper-reflective pandemic intimates. We moved together into a space that felt safe, OUR safe space. Suspended. Did the pandemic open this door, or had this space always existed, even back in the old days?Probably the latter, although we were not sensitive enough to perceive it, too busy to push the door, too lonesome to CARE. Not attentive to its possibilities, not imaginative of its POWER, too confident to be capable of succeeding alone.Even if we might have secretly wished for this space to exist.The present piece of work, and JOY, might be described by others as a "side-step," a "hobby project," a "shadow activity."For us, it is a recollection of shocks and wonders, a sentience of precious, ephemeral instances that last. We are a group of eight early career researchers who study global mobility and labor migration from a variety of disciplinary perspectives.

Who cares for carers?

“…Auto-ethnography has been defined as "an approach to research and writing that seeks to describe and systematically analyze personal experience in order to understand cultural experience" (Ellis et al, 2011). As a methodological approach, it is often valued for the light it can shine on individual experiences (Martel et al, 2022) but can also be criticized for being "self-indulgent, narcissistic, introspective, and individualized" (Stahlke Wall, 2016). The decision to write from an auto-ethnographic perspective is deliberate in the sense that what has been written below is my own personal carer views and experiences, for better or for worse.…”

A gay reflection on microaggressions, symbolic normativities, and pink hair

“…I aim to extend this theoretical perspective by highlighting active agency (Tomlinson, 2010; Özkazanç‐Pan, 2020) embedded as a crucial part of one's belonging by demonstrating the self‐evaluative, self‐defining, and emancipatory effects of minority employees constructing their own definitions for belonging and thus resisting the status quo. Thus, I talk about sense of belonging (Martel et al., 2021); moreover, this perspective contributes to questioning the socially constructed norm‐based belonging, which relies on social categories such as ‘ideal worker’ or ‘straight male’. As the experience of belonging is often attached to a particular social category of identity depending on the context, situation, and meaning (Yuval‐Davis, Anthias & Kofman, 2005), LGBTQ employees strategically negotiating their sense of belonging often requires heavy reflection on all three aspects.…”

“…Thus, I talk about sense of belonging (Martel et al, 2021); moreover, this perspective contributes to questioning the socially constructed norm-based belonging, which relies on social categories such as 'ideal worker' or 'straight male'. As the experience of belonging is often attached to a particular social category of identity depending on the context, situation, and meaning (Yuval-Davis, Anthias & Kofman, 2005), LGBTQ employees strategically negotiating their sense of belonging often requires heavy reflection on all three aspects.…”