1887
Volume 8, Issue 2-3
  • ISSN 2214-9953
  • E-ISSN: 2214-9961
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Abstract

Abstract

We use a geographically informed notion of and Williams’ (1977) framework to examine ‘closed’, masking, and social distancing signs on businesses in the Washington, DC central-city neighborhood of Adams Morgan. We argue that the semantic content and discursive structure of the Covid signs, together with the in-the-moment feeling of walking down empty streets while a little-understood virus had just started raging, promoted a reconceptualization of labor relations tied to solidarity, public health, and communal responsibility, and making visible the working conditions of low-wage workers. This new structure of feeling opens up a space – however narrow – of political possibility.

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2022-09-01
2023-10-01
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