Intimate Moments on the Block: Times of Rupture and Affective Elastic Intimacies Among Neighbours in New York City and Helsinki

Neighbours are typically not intimates, but “intimate moments” sometimes emerge among neighbours. While doing cross-cultural ethnography in active neighbourhoods of New York City (NYC) and Helsinki, I testified many significant intimate encounters and care bred by times of rupture, such as 9/11, loss and illness. Drawing on multi-sited ethnographic fieldwork, this article makes sense of such moments of closeness on four different blocks in Brooklyn, NYC and Helsinki. Intimate moments are emotional, embodied and often short-lived, but may affect people and their sense of belonging for years. In order not to become too sticky, neighbours need to maintain the freedom to pull back. Transformative intimate moments are studied drawing on personal narratives and ethnographic observation, but also on multi-sensory and affective co-presence with study participants. The article suggests that, in order to capture multi-sensory ways in which intimate moments affect people and their sense of belonging requires “sensing” and “sensuous knowledge”, which should be further developed within feminist methodology.<br>