Macramé of thoughts about touching, non-touching, to be touched and intimacy

This presentation introduces an ongoing collaborative auto-ethnography between six researchers (two from Italy, two from Norway, two from UK) that started following a workshop held during ESREA / LHBN Conference (Life History & Biography Network), in March 2021 continuing also this year. Each one of us have shared stories about being close to ‘the other’, sharing stories and staying in touch, in one way or another during the COVID-19 pandemic, to see what, as women and caregivers, we can learn from each other and how this learning might be transformative for our daily lives. The result is a diffracting writing in different languages that created what we called a “macrame” of thoughts where we have the chance to be in-touch with others to develop a trusting relationship of companionship.