Agency and Subjectivity in Pandemic (Neoliberal) Times: A Duoethnografic Study

Abstract

ABSTRACT This duoethnographic study addresses some of the conflicts that two academics in a public Brazilian University have experienced during pandemic times. As they engage in conversations prompted by their own narratives exchanged online during the first weeks of quarantine, they start theorizing on some emerging topics that, for them, needed to be critically examined and, eventually, ressignified. In this sense, this article discusses the role of agency in their academic and personal lives and how it was engendered during such complex and unpredictable times, drawing special attention to questions of collectivity and diversity. Furthermore, the present work examines questions of identity and the neoliberal subjectivities that also emerged through this extremely rich collaborative experience, leading, therefore to risky and truthful subjectification processes on the part of the authors.

Keywords

• duoethnography
• agency
• neoliberalism
• subjectification