Keywords
Covid-19 pandemic, virtual community, crisis, temporality, aging
Document Type
Main Theme / Tema Central
Abstract
In this dissertation, I examine the Sofa Singers, an online choir formed at the start of the pandemic. Through twice-weekly meetings over Zoom and daily interactions on a private Facebook group, individuals actively work to create their community. Using sensory engagement, technological materials, and monetary fees, participants in the community come to understand their place through affective memories and social relationships. From inside the community, members are able to make sense of the multiple crises they are experiencing; as elderly and retired, my interlocutors struggle to feel included in a space and time built to exclude them. The constancy of regular sessions and events allows participants to endure the uncertainty of overlapping crises. Investigating this group and its members illuminates the formation of community as a conscious process, which in turn reflects the reason for its creation.
Recommended Citation
Knighten, Silvia
(2025)
"“A Bright Spot of Community”: Finding Joy and Creating Connections in a Landscape of Crises,"
Culture, Society, and Praxis: Vol. 17:
No.
2, Article 4.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.csumb.edu/csp/vol17/iss2/4