Care is often invisible and undervalued, whether performed for free within the family or friend circles, or as waged work. The COVID-19 pandemic has made care more visible and sparked conversations about care. Yet, we (at least in Ontario) have not responded to multiple care crises by implementing widespread structural change needed to put care at the center of political, societal, and economic systems.
Choosing texts
I pitched an Ethics of Care seminar to my department in late 2019, and it was selected to be taught in the Winter 2021 term. Quickly, I had a reading list suitable for a year-long course! Honestly, I could have focused on care and COVID-19 for the entire course. As I was selecting texts over the past few months, I asked my colleagues how much time they spent on the ethics of care in introductory courses. Not much, if at all, it seems. So I re-focused the course, putting more emphasis on foundational readings than on contemporary applications and extensions of care theory.
Per usual, I approach the beginning of term with more questions than I had before. I found less black feminist writing on care, but perhaps that is because the black feminist tradition discusses care under the umbrella of a politics of love rather than an ethics of care. I found less work by Indigenous feminists than I expected, but I wonder if that is because I should have looked for care under the umbrella of responsibility and relations rather than an ethics of care. These questions are ones I plan to explore.
The reading list, I admit, is not perfect. I want to share it with you for comment and discussion. Although it is too late for changes to be made to this iteration of the course, I am interested in your thoughts and suggestions.
The Reading List
I’m happy to send full citations your way. Just fill out the contact box to request them!
Feminist Care Ethics
- Engster and Hamington, Care Ethics and Political Theory, “Introduction”
- Bahn, Cohen, and Rodgers, “A Feminist Perspective on COVID-19 and the Value of Care Work Globally”
- (podcast episode) Kittay, “Care Is no Longer Personal. It Is Political.”
The Origins of “Care Ethics” in Philosophy
- Gilligan, “Moral Orientation and Moral Development”
- Ruddick, “Maternal Thinking”
Confucian Ethics and Care
- Li, “The Confucian Concept of Jen and the Feminist Ethics of Care: A Comparative Study”
- Yuan, “Ethics of Can and Concept of Jen: A Reply to Chenyang Li”
Justice and Care
- Held, “The Meshing of Care and Justice”
- Narayan, “Colonialism and its Others: Considerations on Rights and Care Discourses”
- Kittay, Love’s Labor, Chapter 4 “The Benefits and Burdens of Social Cooperation”
Democracy and Care
- Hamington, “Jane Addams and a Politics of Embodied Care”
- Tronto, “There is an Alternative: Homines Curans and the Limits of Neoliberalism”
Care Work
- Tronto, “The Nanny Question in Feminism”
- Weir, “The Universal Caregiver: Imagining Women’s Liberation in the New Millennium”
Care in Black Feminist Thought
- Collins, Black Feminist Thought Chapter 8, “Black Women and Motherhood” and selections from Chapter 11, “Black Feminist Epistemology”
African Ethics and Care Ethics
- Metz, “The Western Ethic of Care or an Afro-Communitarian Ethic? Specifying the Right Relational Morality”
- Gouws and van Zyl, “Towards a Feminist Ethics of Ubuntu: Bridging Rights and Ubuntu”
Care and Solidarity
- Cherry, “Solidarity Care: How to Take Care of Each Other in Times of Struggle”
- Gould, “Recognition in Redistribution: Care and Diversity in Global Justice”
Care and COVID-10
- Baxter, “A Hitchhiker’s Guide to Caring for an Older Person Before and During Coronoavirus-19”
- Quinlan and Singh, “COVID-19 and the Paradox of Visibility: Domestic Violence and Feminist Caring Labor in Canadian Shelters”
- Tomkins, “Where is Boris Johnson? When and Why It Matters When Leaders Show Up During a Crisis”
For one week, students will select a topic. I have readings ready to go in each of the following categories. I was not kidding when I said this could be a year-long course!
- Care and virtue ethics
- Care and epistemology
- Care and masculinity
- Care and organizations
- Care and leadership
- Care an ecological/animal ethics
- Care and neoliberalism
- Care and humanitarian military interventions
- Care and sex work/sex trafficking
- More recent work on justice for caregivers
- More on Confucian ethics and care ethics
Credit
Feature Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash
Colorful Hands 2 of 3 / George Fox students Annabelle Wombacher, Jared Mar, Sierra Ratcliff and Benjamin Cahoon collaborated on the mural. / Article: https://www.orartswatch.org/painting-the-town-in-newberg/