Feeling in Suspension: Waiting in COVID-19 Shopping Queues

Jones, Victoria J.E.

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent UK lockdown were a catalyst for mass waiting. This paper will focus on a phenomenon, a particular form of waiting observed in shopping queues during lock down in the North East of England. Waiting practices formed through the COVID-19 pandemic have opened new forms of feeling, requiring new forms of articulation. As such the paper experiments with language and form speculatively describing feelings and temporalities through a metaphor, suspension. Initially the paper outlines what waiting is and does in order to provide a touchstone when considering the feelings formed within new practices of waiting. It then outlines and considers what liquid suspension can open as a writing device. Then working with suspension and aligned concepts of surface and viscosity, the paper explores the morphologies of mood and sensation felt and shared within COVID-19 pandemic shopping queues.

Citation

Jones, V. J. (2022). Feeling in Suspension: Waiting in COVID-19 Shopping Queues. Geohumanities, 8(2), 537-554. https://doi.org/10.1080/2373566x.2021.2014928

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Dec 2, 2021
• Online Publication Date: Feb 3, 2022
• Publication Date: 2022
• Deposit Date: Feb 13, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 18, 2023
• Journal: GeoHumanities
• Print ISSN: 2373-566X
• Electronic ISSN: 2373-5678
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 8
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 537-554
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/2373566x.2021.2014928
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1214160