Across balconies: Interaction in porous home territories in the Italian lockdown

• DOI: 10.3240/97808
• Publication Date: 2020-08-01
• Authors: Chiara Bassetti
• Keywords: Public space; Realm

Balconies, verandas and courtyards are part of our homes, shared with household or condominium members, but extending into public space for the visibility they allow compared to indoor They constitute porous (Benjamin, Lācis, 1978) borders home, configure as liminal spaces in «geography» private, parochial realms social life (Lofland, 1989) This geography has been reconfigured by/during lockdown following Covid-19 outbreak With restricted home (although many people were actually alone at home) its spaces, balconies used more only functional outdoor space, also visible, eyes possibly watching became realm, where several interactional practices enacted grant acquire privacy (e g civil inattention, «undervoicing», doing oblivious), mitigate loneliness engendered by confinement «stakeouts» acquaintances, phone/video calls, interaction pets) The paper considers such a reconfiguration based on ethnographic study conducted from balcony an apartment Parma, Italy © 2020 Societa Editrice il Mulino All rights reserved