Beyond the Rupture

Meighan Mantei

This article presents an autoethnographic exploration into the disruption of my PhD field research with children and youth because of the COVID-19 pandemic. My exploration bridges what Roy has called the “rupture” of the pandemic, and the subsequent impact on the ability to complete graduate research and on the opportunities that have been created to reimagine not only our research approaches but also our world anew. I argue that the gateway to creating a new world of our imaging, in research, policy and practice, must include the visions and voices of children as they respond to the immediate interruptions caused by the virus and as we collectively imagine the path forward. Children can provide a unique perspective of the pandemic from their lived experiences at home, at school, and in the community, as well as in their insightful and thoughtful ideas of how we need to move through this virus together. It is through our collective actions that we decide what is on the other side.

children; COVID-19; ethnography; children’s participation; interdependency