What kind of thing is an 'everyday crisis'?

What kind of thing is an everyday crisis? This paper poses this question in the context of a range of attempts to challenge and rework the geohistorically specific distinction between crisis and everyday life. After placing the term ‘everyday crisis’ in the context of contemporary reconfigurations of everyday life theory, this afterword to the Special Feature ‘Critical geographies of everyday crisis’ draws out two partially connected versions of ‘everyday crisis’ across the Special Feature and in the broader literature, and poses a series of questions about each version – first, everyday crisis as an orientation to all crises and, second, everyday crisis as a distinctive condition defined by open-endedness, an indistinction between crisis and everyday life, and a particular form of harm. The paper concludes by reflecting on questions of form in relation to crisis theorising. Keywords: Crisis, Everyday Life, Everyday Crisis, Normal, Normalisation

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Publication Details

Journal
Durham Research Online (Durham University)
Published
2026-02-25
Primary Topic
Spatial and Cultural Studies
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
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article

What kind of thing is an 'everyday crisis'?

Ben Anderson
Durham Research Online (Durham University)
Spatial and Cultural Studies
article

What kind of thing is an 'everyday crisis'?

Ben Anderson
article en

Abstract

What kind of thing is an everyday crisis? This paper poses this question in the context of a range of attempts to challenge and rework the geohistorically specific distinction between crisis and everyday life. After placing the term ‘everyday crisis’ in the context of contemporary reconfigurations of everyday life theory, this afterword to the Special Feature ‘Critical geographies of everyday crisis’ draws out two partially connected versions of ‘everyday crisis’ across the Special Feature and in the broader literature, and poses a series of questions about each version – first, everyday crisis as an orientation to all crises and, second, everyday crisis as a distinctive condition defined by open-endedness, an indistinction between crisis and everyday life, and a particular form of harm. The paper concludes by reflecting on questions of form in relation to crisis theorising. Keywords: Crisis, Everyday Life, Everyday Crisis, Normal, Normalisation

Durham Research Online (Durham University)
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Spatial and Cultural Studies
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