A bubble of one: Reflections on witches and spinsterhood in pandemic times

Stanley, Phiona

Abstract

In these pandemic times there are couple-bubbles and household bubbles and social bubbles. And then there is me, uncoupled, unchilded, in a bubble of one. (Four if you count the cats.)

In early modern Scotland, the Witchcraft Act (1563) held my type as “rebel wom[e]n who talked back, argued, swore …a socially dangerous subject ”. In contemporary Scotland, social imaginaries of crazy cat ladies work together with the Coronavirus (Scotland) Act (2020) to produce similar effects (albeit without the pyres. Or not yet.) “Emotional and material dependence within couples is both accepted and expected…[while] other kinds of relationships of dependence are subject to constant criticism and condescension ”.

But I am not alone. My oddkin are my bubble (virtually and illegally). This is my declaration of dependence. I am finding ways (although this turns me into a rebel woman, by necessity a socially dangerous subject).

My contribution to CAE is therefore about labels—spinsters, crazy cat ladies, witches.
It is also about negotiating the social rules and the queer queerness of spinsterhood.

Citation

Stanley, P. (2021, September). A bubble of one: Reflections on witches and spinsterhood in pandemic times. Paper presented at 6th Critical Autoethnography Conference, Melbourne, Australia and online

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (unpublished)
• Conference Name: 6th Critical Autoethnography Conference
• Start Date: Sep 30, 2021
• End Date: Oct 1, 2021
• Deposit Date: Mar 11, 2024
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/3559597
• Related Public URLs: https://iaani.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/CAE-Program-2021.pdf