The Liminality of Loneliness: Negotiating Feminist Ethics and Intersectional Affectivity

Abstract

This paper draws on auto-ethnographic and creative material to disentangle loneliness as including moments of tension but also the potential for personal liberation. The analysis draws on intersectional reflexivity as a joint project building on feminist friendship and activist academic collaboration. Our collaborative critical auto-ethnography sought to reach the co-production of narratives of loneliness while embracing the diversities of our positionalities. Our differing points of departure and arrival were harnessed to understand our experiential perspectives on loneliness. We conceptualise through feminist and intersectional theories the liminalities of a 'biopolitics' of loneliness. We address ethical, affective and performative aspects of how loneliness is understood. We can then advance propositions for alternative analyses that can contribute to feminist studies of loneliness. In the analysis we clarify the often nebulous interconnections of materialisms, affectivities and ethical feminisms to disentangle loneliness from the 'individual experience' to a 'social platform' of wider collective responsibility in tackling some of its traumatic and destructive effects. We explore these issues in the emerging context of the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic that has led to farreaching social, psychological, and physical impacts upon loneliness, in turn augmented by UK state policies.

Gendered experiences of loneliness during COVID-19 isolation: Insights for intersectional feminist social work – the case of Çankaya/Ankara, Turkey

“…From an intersectional and feminist perspective, it has highlighted that socially marginalized communities such as the elderly, disabled, LGBTI+, or caregivers have been prone to suffering more from isolation. It is mostly because of the patriarchal policies, discriminative belief systems, or lack of opportunities to access welfare services ( Christou and Bloor, 2021 ; Hughes, 2016 ). In this regard, the feminist discussions on loneliness have closely connected to the contemporary discussions on solidarity ( Burns and Reyes, 2020 ) that focus on empowering social relations without disregarding commonality among women and LGBTI+.…”

Ecofeminism and the Cultural Affinity to Genocidal Capitalism: Theorising Necropolitical Femicide in Contemporary Greece

“…The Greek society has been characterised as one in a 'prolonged state of suffering, precariousness, and transition' (Tsekeris et al 2015) given contemporary social challenges and changes that have altered 'traditional' societal narratives of 'Greekness' with protracted austerity having triggered existential and societal crises. This is because crises do not simply contain themselves in impacting everyday life but have a social life of their own (Hall 2019(Hall , 2020, and thus are more thoroughly understood through feminist analyses, feminist ethics, and intersectional affectivity approaches to the social and cultural analysis of austerity politics (Pearson 2019;Christou and Bloor 2021). It is within this context of crises that a dramatic rise in femicide in Greece has emerged (Karakasi et al 2023).…”

Loneliness through the lens of Black feminist love-politics: pedagogical practices amid pandemic online learning

“…First, psychologists and public health experts currently dominate discussions around loneliness in general, and college student loneliness in particular. According to intersectional and feminist thinking, these perspectives typically treat loneliness as a psychological issue (Christou and Bloor, 2021). A psychological conception of loneliness is limited, as it not only neglects the sociopolitical dimensions that produce the conditions for loneliness but also obscures how loneliness can be viewed as an equity issue in education.…”