Blog
Growing vegetables, making homes
Homes are made in more ways than one. They are made as entanglements of agencies that are both material and discursive: a bed, somewhere to cook, maybe some family members, hopefully a place where you might feel comfortable. Indeed, the phrase ‘to be at home’ refers to a sense of ease, or belonging. Homes are […]
Race, Foster Care, and Queer Kinship
Although foster parents’ racialized, gendered, and classed depictions of carework won them political success, they have had lasting ramifications for American families who are not white, not affluent, or not cisgender. In 2024, what little protections American families have are eroding rapidly.
“Reproductive Carcerality and the Politics of Abolition Feminist Abortion Care”
In the aftermath of the Dobbs decisions, abortion care and services are increasingly vulnerable. In the U.S reproductive life is shaped throughout carceral techniques, and the criminalization of abortion now renders pregnancy as punishment. An abolition feminists vision of abortion centers care, community, and accessibility to resists the ways that carcerality threatens reproductive liberation.
Una Soledad Acompañada: Trans Care, Study, and Opacity in Colombian Prison Worlds
This research probes the problem of care for trans people in Colombian prison worlds, especially the role of study as care. Care is often a site of untidy contestation, of suspicion, resentment, and silence alongside generosity, compassion, and trust. How do we act when others’ realities are not ours, but we seek to fight for and with them regardless?
“Family or Boss?” Cultural Exchange Narratives and New Law Implementation in the US Au Pair Program
Even with new labor protections in place, Massachusetts au pairs still find themselves vulnerable due to the lack of agency supervision and the program’s emphasis on family membership and “cultural exchange.”
Invisible Frontliners: Filipina/o Caregivers in the United States and Collective Care
Before, during the COVID-19 era, and continued to today, Filipino care workers are at the frontlines of assisted living facilities, residential care facilities for the elderly (RCFEs) and as personal attendants to chronically ill and differently abled people in the San Francisco/Bay Area. Because the caregiving industry has stagnated as an under resourced sector of American healthcare, the care workers within it suffer from a host of labor violations. Yet, caregivers have innovated their ability to care for one another.
I Carry the City on My Back
The Wu-Tang Clan story reflects the ethos of black abundance, which is based on the principle of sharing resources. However, it also sheds light on the overwhelmingly male world of street drug dealing. Chapter 3, titled “I Carry the City on My Back,” from the forthcoming book manuscript “That’s My Heart: Queering Intimacy in Hip-Hop Culture,” delves into the ambivalences of hip-hop culture and masculinity
Caring Masculinities and Football Brotherhood
In her forthcoming book, Tracie Canada describes the various relationships Black college football players cultivate during and beyond their years in college. This is done as a response to the exploitative, violent, and anti-Black structures they tackle, especially the college football system. In the chapter on which this post is based, Canada addresses Black players as brothers to one another, as they express a form of care that values the person over the player, reflects shared practices, and attends to the importance of racialized experiences