This article is part of the following series: Writing Life
Image 1: Hélène’s home office.The pandemic has revealed the fragility of our lives and the vulnerability of our bodies. It has also revealed the importance of fleshy connections that drive our energy, and our fundamental dependence on others, humans and non-humans, without which we couldn’t survive. Hélène Mialet has been exploring such themes in her work, most notably in …
How does one tell the story of a world under the reign of terror of the coronavirus? While authoritative accounts are yet to congeal, a curious genre of storytelling is emerging.
This is one that (probably unwittingly) mimics that of the self-consciously self-reflexive anthropologist. It begins with a declaration of the subject position – I am an upper-caste, middle-class, cisgender …
This article is part of the following series: Histórias of Zika
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Contra o Esquecimento: Contando Histórias após o Zika
Dois anos atrás, em um aeroporto, enquanto esperava uma conexão, recebi uma mensagem de WhatsApp de uma mulher no Brasil que conheci através da minha pesquisa de campo e trabalho voluntário em Salvador, capital do estado da Bahia. Ela era uma das mães associadas a uma ONG …
One rainy morning in November, I called my mother.
“Hi mum, how’re you doing?”
“Well, it isn’t much fun to be sitting here in a chicken run all day long. They’ve even stretched the mesh right along the sideboard.”
I picture my mother, who had been immobile for years, seated in her blue-painted wicker chair next to the window. Within …