As the Covid-19 pandemic spread to communities across the globe, governments reacted to the crisis in various ways, often enforcing various iterations of a lockdown. The crisis – as much economic and political as biological and affective – was quickly branded the “great equalizer” and a shared global event that made present the fragility and vulnerability of the human body and mind. The tendency to universalize the lived experience of the crisis and living in lockdown rested on underlining the affective bonds between peoples and societies and their shared suffering.

This special issue aims to unsettle the narrative of the Covid-19 crisis as the “great equalizer” by presenting diverse accounts of living in lockdown that foreground the pandemic as the great dis-equalizer. We invite short submissions (up to 3000 words) that reflect on the questions below or any other aspect of the lived experience of living through the crisis and/or in lockdown:

- What can the crisis and the lived experience of living in lockdown tell us about how we understand our sense of place and space?
- In which ways do social class, gender, ethnicity, caring responsibilities, disability, imprisonment, community intersect with the crisis and the experience of living in lockdown?
- How does the crisis and the experience of living in lockdown intersect with the creation of art and knowledge?
- What emotional responses to living through the crisis in lockdown -unsettle our sense of being, individually and collectively?
- How might we reimagine social relations and kinship when touching is restricted?
- How might we rethink of global mobility in a time when mobility itself is impossible?
- Has our perception of time changed while living through the crisis and in lockdown?
- How do the crisis and the lockdown intersect with the concept of freedom, intended in its epistemological, ontological, political and social connotations?
- What happens when authorities rule that a lockdown is not an option for you or a particular segment of society?

We seek self-reflective submissions from a diverse range of voices from around the world that reflect on the lived experience of the crisis and living in lockdown. A variety of submissions are welcome, including personal reflections and short essays, as well as poetry, short stories and any other creative texts.

If you are interested in being part of this special issue of PORTAL: Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies, please email your expressions of interest to Nicholas.Manganas@uts.edu.au and alice.loda@uts.edu.au by Monday July 13, 2020. Submissions will go through an editing process but will not be peer reviewed. Deadline for completed manuscripts: Friday 11 September 2020. Expected publication: end of October.