Autoethnographic fiction: "Just one more time…", a family's experience of COVID social distancing

Autoethnography offers a systematic framework for “writing” (-graphos) about “our selves” and “personal experiences” (autos-) to make sense of what is happening in society (-ethnos-). Therefore, when the first wave of COVID19 cases and deaths from the global Coronavirus pandemic were reported from Italy in early 2020, I took this opportunity to write and journal about my experiences. I realised that as a society we had found ourselves in unprecedented times leading to emergency strategies like travel bans, social distancing and self-isolation, which all caused drastic changes to individuals’ lives.

Drawing on crystallization (Richardson, 2000) as a methodological framework and process (Ellingson, 2009), I think with stories (Frank, 2013) and use writing as a method of inquiry (Richardson, 2000, 2003) to illuminate data, such as social media posts and news accounts (Ellingson, 2009, 2017), and extrapolate meaning that would otherwise stay hidden or forgotten. This form of analysis and inquiry engages with the radical specificity of experiences, thus the otherwise subjugated and marginalised (Ellingson, 2017). Tending to radical specificity reflects a deeper engagement with “unfamiliar connections and relations that move both beyond and against the familiar storylines” (Sotirin, 2010, n.p., section 7) and “cultural clichés” (Ellingson, 2017:178).Evocativeness, expressiveness and transformation are not intentional but natural by-products of readers engaging with similarities and differences in experiences and “think[ing] beyond the dominant, the familiar and the common” (Sotirin, 2010, n.p., section 7).

The fictionalised account tells the story of NHS nurse Hannah and her ex-husband Richard, who disagree on the rules and guidelines for social distancing, but who are forced to navigate their differences because they are the joint carers for their 8-year-old daughter Libby and 10-year-old son Luke. The themes of empathy and lack thereof are further explored through Richard’s second wife Sofia. Sofia is Italian by birth and still has family in Italy, but due to travel restrictions and closing of borders, she is unable to visit her family. This results in Sofia experiencing tensions within herself between being “at home” whilst at the same time being “away from home”. The story is told over the space of several weeks, from the different characters’ perspectives, which highlights how an extreme experience like the current pandemic results in people coming together, whilst being pushed apart from one another at the same time. Through the fictionalisation, I demonstrate the impact of the COVID19 emergency measures on individuals and society by exploring the microcosm of the family as a metaphor for entire cultures and societies.