“A gente tá vivendo uma vida sem paz”: Experiências dos primeiros 6 meses de quarentena do covid-19 para mulheres da periferia de Salvador

This article examines the experiences and concerns of families living on the outskirts of Salvador during the first 6 months of the Covid-19 pandemic. The study was part of ongoing anthropological research initiated in 2012 among black women and their families and draws mainly on interviews conducted in August 2020. The impact of the quarantine was evident in their daily lives that was marked by anxiety, insecurity and fear of the near future. Financial insecurity was also exacerbated by the pandemic with the majority of the women losing their livelihood or having their livelihoods significantly reduced while their unpaid care work at home increased. They depended on financial aid from the state and various means of credit, acutely aware that the financial aid was only a temporary measure. With the heightened levels of uncertainty about the present and the future, women feared abject poverty more than the coronavirus itself and other epidemics that were causing severe illness and distress in Salvador’s low-income neighbourhoods.