Contested and Crowded Homes: Pandemic Stuckness in Disadvantaged Neighbourhoods

Covid19 was not equally distributed among neighbourhoods in Denmark – the disadvantaged neighbourhoods on the Government’s so-called ‘parallel society list’ was recurrently pointed out as ‘Corona ghettos’ with high levels of infection and long-term lock-downs. Media and politicians were especially concerned with how people in such neighbourhoods live in crowded homes or have deviant cultural norms and social conventions, hence contesting their ways of residing and living. Yet researchers have argued that the high infection rates also had to do with the fact that residents in these areas mainly have jobs in the service industry and cannot work from home. Based on architectural-anthropological fieldwork in a range of disadvantaged neighbourhoods during and after the pandemic, this paper focuses on how the Covid19 lock-down was experienced from within: How did people handle being stuck within the boundaries of the home, and what was the impact of the pandemic on the stigmatization, density and social infrastructure of these neighbourhoods? The study presents findings on different levels: First of all, we need to question prevalent notions of the home as a shelter and safe haven. For many people not least vulnerable groups, pandemic stuckness (Steiner & Veel 2021) at home was a frustrating or even tragic experience. Second, the pandemic demonstrated that home is not necessarily delimited by the four walls of the house. In the disadvantaged neighbourhoods many residents have social relations outside Denmark, and during the pandemic, they were not just stuck behind domestic boundaries, but also national boundaries. However, as other places, the pandemic also paved way for new community activities and practical help among neighbours, rendering visible valuable social infrastructure that may remain unnoticed in pre- and post-pandemic times.