On Friday the 25th of September I tested positive for COVID-19. All the fears of the pandemic that had accumulated over the last 6 months suddenly came into fruition once I received my test result. Not only did I feel guilty about the impact my positive result could have on those I had seen and lived with, but I also had to embark on ten days of isolation in my student home with my six other housemates.
I have learnt a number of things in my isolation period. The first notable difference I have experienced is a newfound admiration and sympathy for those who have been shielding from the virus from the start of the pandemic since its beginnings in March of 2020. With 10 days of isolation, I am a week into isolation now so I am almost approaching the end. With it comes boredom, sadness and a yearning to go where I please (as a student that is mostly the pub and the shops to buy more alcohol!)
Moreover, I feel thankful that my body can fight off the virus with ease and the symptoms I have received are no worse than the flu. I have not had to be placed on a ventilator and, apart from some lethargy, my body does not feel damaged in any way.
Additionally, I have found my network of kinship that I can rely on whilst living in Fallowfield as a student at the University of Manchester. Kinship has more often than not come to be defined and assumed, within anthropology, as solely involving one’s immediate family relationships. This being the relationships you possess through blood for example, your father, mother, siblings etc (Schneider, 1984). Schneider contests this assumption of ‘blood being thicker than water’ and it is off the back of this assumption and my experience of isolation that I have come to recognise my kinship within Manchester. I have received messages of aid from some of my friends in Manchester asking if they can bring food or beer to me and my housemates, as well as receiving get well soon messages from distant family friends, offers of facetimes and proposals for future plans to make me feel better. It is off the back of my isolation that I have come to recognise how privileged I am to have such a supportive network of kinship, whether that be my friends who live nearby offering help or friends who live further afield who have kept me company by calling and checking in often. These experiences have made me realise that it is not just my two parents and my sister who I have to rely on in times of crisis and life in general. I also have a whole network of supportive friends my own age and older who have proved how strong my network of kinship is. In contrast, I have witnessed other people in isolation that have not shared my experiences, one of my housemates has a car and so dropped me off and drove me back from the test centre which was seven miles away. In contrast, one of my friends had a lift to the test centre but the person made her walk home as she ‘wanted to go to the pub’. This same friend was shivering with the covid fever and felt extremely ill, but was still made to clean the toilet as it was ‘her day on the cleaning rota’. An abhorrent request that I would not have let happen, nor my housemates, if she lived with us. The contrast in experiences has only solidified my gratitude in having such a supportive kinship network.
If there is anything I have picked up in my time of isolation, is that my network of kinship is truly supportive and has given me the strength I needed to complete the isolation period without breaking down mentally.
Works cited
- Schneider, David (1984) ‘The Fundamental Assumption in the Study of Kinship: “Blood is Thicker than Water”’, in A Critique of the Study of Kinship. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, pp.165-177.
Ruby Goodley is a second year Social Anthropology student at the University of Manchester
Twitter: @ruby_goodley
