Temporalités en crise au fil des saisons : une ethnographie participative de l’ordinaire et du domestique en temps confiné et reconfiné

Abstract

From the collection of diaries according to a specific questionnaire frame filled by volunteers (project called “Récits Confinés”), this article questions the representation of time and space in the particular context of the two confinements of spring and autumn 2020. The March 2020 confinement was characterized by the deceleration of daily routine rhythm with limitation on movements, interruption of transportation to go to work or to school and a multiplicity of social times limited to the domestic sphere: professional time, learning time, domestic time, free and leisure time. Through our anthropological approach and sociology of everyday life, our article shows that confinement time can be perceived either as an appeasement time (far from daily rhythms and movements sometimes endured) but also as a time of tensions, in the household or within the same person, according to the season. Confinement leads to using the temporality of the event differently: going back to the past; contemplating the passing of time; speeding up daily actions; reconfiguring routines in order to “succeed” this novel social experience. Confinement time is also the time of rupture (daily and professional rhythms) which announces a renewal, a contemplated time, a moment to step back and take stock.

Keywords

• Chronos
• Kairos
• Social times
• Covid-19 Pandemic
• Sanitary crisis
• Sanitary measures