Blurry Microgeographies of the New Normal: Grappling with COVID-19 Disruptions, Disgust and Despair in Switzerland

ABSTRACT

This paper investigates the adjustments to everyday life among ordinary Swiss residents from a variety of backgrounds after a year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Grounded in an appreciation of the quotidian, the paper explores how pandemic-related disruptions have destabilized the traditional boundaries between work and leisure, producing a blurry everyday life that combines labor with home time and, subsequently, results in confused and uncertain reactions to the challenges of prolonged lockdown. This has been exacerbated by a fragmented government response due to Swiss federalism, combined with a climate of poor communication from authorities. The paper highlights how respondents from all corners of this small but diverse country experience feelings of fatigue, frustration, and isolation that transcend linguistic, cultural, and socio-economic divides. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022.