The Homebody During/In Crisis

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic ushered in a new paradigm of domesticity that manifested in and through the body. The complexities of domestic corporeality, however, predate this particular crisis. The inhabitation of the domestic realm is inherently riddled with contradictions of space, subjectivity, and sociality. In this article, I consider the many paradoxes imbuing the homebody both before and during the onset of the pandemic, arguing that crisis exacerbates the existing tensions that the homebody engenders, but it does not produce them. I examine the case of home dancer Marlee Grace and her Instagram activity prior to and during the quarantines, lockdowns, and stay-at-home orders of 2020. Grace's performed contradictions for her new media audience demonstrate that the homebody—though its complexities are amplified by the pandemic—has always been in crisis.