Moving and being moved during the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany
Abstract Background This paper explores stories of the stilling of social life in Germany during the early phases of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methodology Drawing on interview data (46 participants) collected from people living in different regions of Germany, we utilized elements of grounded theory to...
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| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Springer
2025-08-01
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| Series: | Discover Social Science and Health |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1007/s44155-025-00285-3 |
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| Summary: | Abstract Background This paper explores stories of the stilling of social life in Germany during the early phases of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methodology Drawing on interview data (46 participants) collected from people living in different regions of Germany, we utilized elements of grounded theory to unpack how the stilling was experienced. The category that emerged related to moving and being moved, understood here as the numerous forms of how bodies move physically and are affectively moved. After identifying emergent themes, we analyzed our data further with the aid of the new mobilities paradigm as a sensitizing concept. To do so, we first investigated how forms of self-directed physical movement impacted on participants’ sense of self during the first lockdown in Germany from August to November of 2020. Findings Here the analysis showed how different forms of bodily movement offer a crucial resource to pandemic life, particularly an embodied engagement with the world where meaning is created in embodied forms of doing. Second, the paper examined the aesthetic and affective pleasures of being moved with respect to the felt experience of music, dance and social life more generally and their associated absence. This unpacking of the pandemic and the lived realities of it analyses the emotional and sensory experience of movement and offers an analysis accessible to both specialist and lay audiences. Conclusion Taken together, these analyses empirically demonstrate the importance of kinesthetic activities of the everyday, and show how embodied aesthetic pleasure generates sensory and emotional gratification. Implications Ultimately, the paper demonstrates that movement and stillness structured participant’s experiences of the pandemic, that movement is both produced by and produces the everyday, and that understanding its social meaning might hold potentially significant insights for future pandemic planning.These implications make the paper of particular interest to stakeholders such as urban planners or policymakers. |
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| ISSN: | 2731-0469 |