Any​ ​attempt​ ​to​ ​understand​ ​or​ ​take​ ​up​ ​“care”​ ​in​ ​its​ ​lived,​ ​philosophical​ ​and​ ​political aspects​ ​is​ ​a​ ​slippery​ ​affair.​ ​If​ ​nothing​ ​else,​ ​feminist,​ ​disability​ ​and​ ​care​ ​scholars​ ​and​ ​activists converge​ ​around​ ​the​ ​vitality​ ​of​ ​care.​ ​Care​ ​is​ ​fundamental​ ​to​ ​being​ ​and​ ​becoming​ ​human together.​ ​It​ ​encompasses​ ​the​ ​intimate,​ ​fleshy​ ​and​ ​mundane​ ​exchanges​ ​between​ ​bodies engaged​ ​in​ ​everyday​ ​affects​ ​and​ ​acts—of​ ​giving​ ​and​ ​receiving,​ ​of​ ​living​ ​and​ ​growing,​ ​of teaching​ ​and​ ​learning—that​ ​are​ ​fraught​ ​with​ ​ethical​ ​complexity.​ ​Although​ ​“predominantly regarded​ ​as​ ​an​ ​inferior​ ​practice​ ​to​ ​education”​ ​(given​ ​its​ ​associations​ ​with​ ​“feminine”​ ​nature, affect​ ​and​ ​dependency)​ ​(Gibbons,​ ​2007,​ ​p.​ ​125),​ ​care​ ​is​ ​central​ ​to​ ​all​ ​human​ ​life,​ ​and​ ​as​ ​such, must​ ​be​ ​acknowledged​ ​as​ ​interconnected​ ​with​ ​and​ ​of​ ​equal​ ​importance​ ​to​ ​education (Hobgood,​ ​2015;​ ​Wood,​ ​2015).​ ​Like​ ​education,​ ​care​ ​is​ ​particular,​ ​highly​ ​contextual,​ ​and political.​ ​From​ ​our​ ​starting​ ​supposition​ ​that​ ​care​ ​is​ ​essential​ ​to​ ​life,​ ​and​ ​grounded​ ​in​ ​a​ ​feminist disability​ ​studies​ ​perspective,​ ​this​ ​special​ ​forum​ ​​Cripping​ ​Care:​ ​Care​ ​Pedagogies​ ​and Practices​​ ​engages​ ​care’s​ ​complexity​ ​in​ ​relation​ ​to​ ​multiple​ ​intersecting​ ​issues:​ ​(1)​ ​the​ ​rights of​ ​persons​ ​with​ ​disabilities​ ​and​ ​chronic​ ​illnesses​ ​to​ ​support;​ ​(2)​ ​dawning​ ​public​ ​knowledge about​ ​the​ ​violence​ ​of​ ​institutional​ ​care​ ​and​ ​custody​ ​regimes​ ​against​ ​young,​ ​aging,​ ​disabled and​ ​racialized​ ​persons​ ​(including​ ​in​ ​colonial​ ​institutions);​ ​(3)​ ​critiques​ ​from​ ​feminist, disability​ ​and​ ​Global​ ​South​ ​scholars​ ​of​ ​care’s​ ​oppressive​ ​tendencies;​ ​and​ ​(4)​ ​the​ ​implications of​ ​neoliberal​ ​care​ ​regimes​ ​for​ ​the​ ​world’s​ ​disabled​ ​and​ ​aging​ ​populations​ ​(see,​ ​for​ ​example, Aubrecht​ ​&​ ​Krawchenko,​ ​2016;​ ​Williams,​ ​2011).​ ​Indeed,​ ​these​ ​complexities​ ​of​ ​care​ ​have increasingly​ ​come​ ​to​ ​occupy​ ​a​ ​central​ ​place​ ​on​ ​scholarly​ ​and​ ​global​ ​policy​ ​agendas​ ​(Yeandle et​ ​al.,​ ​2017).

Douglas, P., Rice, C., & Kelly, C. (2017). Cripping care: Care pedagogies and practices. Review of Disability Studies: An International Journal, 13(4), 3–11. Retrieved from https://rdsjournal.org/index.php/journal/article/view/779