Mutual aid in motion. Rome in the (post) pandemic era

Keywords: Covid-19, mutualism, Rome
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Sunday
Session Start / End Time: 2/27/2022 09:40 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/27/2022 11:00 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 73

Abstract

The last two decades have shown an exponential growth of new forms of mutualism, self-organization and community-based initiatives, mostly due to the economic crisis and the sharp decline of public spending in local welfare provision, especially in large metropolitan cities (Roma Ricerca Roma, 2021; Cellamare, 2020). Many of these initiatives take the form of "direct social action" (Bosi and Zamponi, 2019), aimed at providing a tangible response to an urgent need . These actions meet the growing demand for basic goods and services by a large portion of the population and they respond to a strong demand for mobilization and civic participation.
The exacerbation of social inequalities and the limitations on everyday life due to the pandemic restrictions have had a significant impact on new subjectivities and practices of mobilization (Tonkiss, 2013). Many associations have taken charge of responding to the emergency by dealing with a completely new set of activities or extending their area of intervention, thus undergoing a process of rapid transformation. Currently, the identities and spatiality of these actors are "in transition".
The contribution investigates how these processes have incepted (and are likely to evolve) in the eastern quadrant of the city of Rome (Italy) during the Covid-19 pandemic. The question we are trying to address are the following: what determined the transformation of activism and mobilization? what forms of recognition and/or re-appropriation of the urban space are these processes producing? (Huron, 2015) are they temporary or permanent experiences?