Cultural consumptions and amusement after COVID: from the state biosecurity to the biopolitics of the body

Abstract

Facing an unprecedented pandemic and seeking the goal of controlling
it to preserve human lives and avoid that the virus COVID 19 from spreading,
almost every government worldwide adopted measures of biosecurity, such as
quarantines, that lasted fewer or longer, as new ways of control and power. These
measures triggered social fears based on information provided by media and social
networks. The new ways of managing public health changed imaginaries about the
“the other” and modified social face to face interaction which, accordingly, modified
communication and how it is staged. This brief ethnographic study explores the
subjectivities of people who went out to enjoy the night at Ecuador capital city,
despite the emergency that seems to have no ending. The investigation allowed to
register several narratives of anguish and uncertainty that shape the experiences of
those who go back to bars and discos in Quito.