Navigating Covid-induced (im)mobilities: Human agency during travel restrictions and uncertainties

Abstract

This article examines the agency of privileged travelers amid the Covid-19 pandemic, extending beyond the predominant focus on mobility justice for migrants and refugees in (im)mobilities research. Offering new insights into pandemic (im)mobilities, it sheds light on the motivations and strategies adopted by travelers to persist in their journeys, challenging restrictions on “non-essential” mobility imposed by the essential/existential governmental dichotomy. The study contributes to anthropological discussions on the interplay of structure and agency, revealing how individuals navigate the shifting structures of Covid-induced (im)mobilities, transforming “existential mobility” into profound acts. The article highlights the significance of desire and the value of mobility as crucial elements in comprehending human agency to resist immobilization. Through different ethnographic examples, it also demonstrates human agency’s inherent heterogeneity, contextuality, and fluidity. This research contributes to the existing literature on Covid-19, particularly within the field of mobility and agency in anthropology.

Keywords

agency (auto)ethnography Covid-19 essential/existential mobility mobility multi-sited ethnography travel restrictions

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