Editors-in-Chief: Tony E. Adams and Adrew F. Herrmann
Since the pandemic began in March of 2020, we (Tony and I) have wavered about doing a COVID-19 special issue for JoAE. It’s not that we don’t think it is important. It is. It’s not that we didn’t receive submissions. We did. It boiled down to a few important concerns. First, we are still in the midst of the pandemic. News about the pandemic breaks at least once a day. When I began this draft in November 2000 there was no vaccine. Now there are at least three vaccines in production, while the pandemic simultaneously worsens in many parts of the globe. Events are happening so fast that we are all in the process of sensemaking. Second, because we are struggling to make sense, writing retrospective evocative autoethnographies full of rich and thick descriptions is tenuous. We feared rushed autoethnographies written in the middle of a pandemic might age as well as a “Trump 2020” chant. Finally, because COVID is ubiquitous, it is exhausting. However, we also knew we needed to do something. This forum is our compromise. Read more from the introduction…
Table of contents
Forum Introduction: Frailty and Strength During COVID-19
Andrew F. Herrmann
A Town Neglected: Living in Harlan, Kentucky, during COVID-19
Megan Duff
COVID-19: Pandemic Pandemonium
Karen V. Lee
Community of I
David Carless
Understanding Privilege in a Pandemic: The Small Systems that Perpetuate the Large Structures
Art Herbig
Expendable and Indispensable: Thoughts on Being Non-Tenurable Faculty in These Uncertain Times
Thomas W. Townsend; Kallie Gay
Breathe: Pathways to Healing Where “Peace Is Every Step”
Brian Johnston
Love in a Time of Chaos: A Philosophy of Human Relations
Chris J. Patti; Abby Arnold
Related reading: Living Through/With COVID-19: Using Autoethnography to Research the Pandemic
Journal of Autoethnography is a refereed, international, and interdisciplinary journal devoted to the purposes, practices, and principles of autoethnography. JoAE publishes scholarship that foregrounds autoethnography as a method of inquiry; highlights themes and issues of past and contemporary autoethnographic research; discusses theoretical, ethical, and pedagogical issues in autoethnography; identifies future directions for autoethnography; and highlights innovative applications of autoethnography.
online.ucpress.edu/joae