Paper short abstract:

During the Covid-19 pandemic, people are encouraged to stay at home, maintain social distancing and care for their selves. How are such regulations understood in a context of migration and by different social groups? How are migratory bodies redirected, re-regulated and reconditioned in the process?

Paper long abstract:

Migration includes re-starting and re-building a life course. It begins with re-imagination of the journey and the kind of life that is going to take shape in the receiving society. One steps in a migratory journey with knowledge of the past experiences of dealing with risks through, among others, developing an understanding about one’s body. With migration, bodies get displaced, emplaced, replaced and so do cultural perceptions about body, health, illness, and healing. Migration relocates bodies and alongside, regenerates ideas about what a healthy body is and how it is supposed to be (re)constructed and restored. Those entering a new society as asylum seekers and migrants may face requirements of re-understanding their bodies and re-establishing new skills to refine their pre-migration bodies. It is to become good, familiar members of the society. But how do those who cross borders to resettle in a new society perceive these sociocultually constructed ideas about management of risks, preservation of health, and creation of up-to-standard bodies? Who decides what an ideal body is, how it is supposed to be constructed, and what defines a refined, repaired, or restored body? What does it take for these people to be rewarded with the status of good citizens? Outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic has created an environment where boundaries between the dos and don' of selfcare have become blurred. In my article, I take the basis of the society of Sweden to address re-regulation of bodies in a context of migration and in time of crisis.