The Carework Network launched in August 2000 with a one-day conference at Howard University in Washington, D.C., prior to the American Sociological Association meetings. In the quarter century since, many of our motivating questions have continued as both pressing social matters and persistent research interests. Simultaneously, new questions have emerged as the Network has expanded to include a broader range of disciplines, participants, geographic contexts, and research settings.

The Carework Network is taking this opportunity of its 25th anniversary to reflect on the histories and futures of carework research and the study of care more broadly during a bilingual (Spanish and English) three-day conference bringing together researchers and advocates from around the world.

The conference will explore how conversations about care have developed during this period and what factors have informed notable inflection points — not only discrete events such as the 2008 financial crisis and the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic but also more sustained dynamics such as environmental crises, pervasive neoliberal policies, the ongoing importance of migrant careworkers, the changing role of technologies and infrastructures, and renewed global reckonings with the effects of racism and colonialism.

We invite submissions that allow us to explore these histories together as well as their implications for the futures of care and care studies. We welcome proposals for the following submission types:

1. Individual paper proposals should include an abstract of 300 words and a brief (c. five entries) bibliography of work that has informed your research or with which you are in conversation.
2. Fully constituted panel proposals should describe the topic and relationship between papers in no more than 300 words. Additionally, include 300-word abstracts for each paper. Panels should have 3-5 papers. We encourage panels that bring together participants from different perspectives, disciplines, geographies, methodologies and/or that connect scholarly knowledge to public conversations.
   

All submissions should include title, name, contact information for author(s), institutional affiliation (if applicable), and occupational status (student, faculty, advocate, practitioner etc.). All submissions should include objectives or research questions; methodology, geographical or sectoral context, main findings and conclusions, and 4-5 keywords describing the research. We welcome submissions in English or Spanish, from all academic disciplines, independent researchers, advocacy or non- profit organizations, and public and private sector organizations. We also encourage participation by undergraduate and graduate students.

The Carework Network is an international organization of scholars and advocates who focus on the caring work of individuals, families, communities, paid and unpaid caregivers, social service agencies and state bureaucracies. Authors and panel organizers should submit a proposal for a paper or panel to careworknetwork2025@gmail.com (by e-mail only) no later than September 15, 2024. If selected, you will be notified in October and expected to submit a full paper by April 1, 2025.

There will be some support for visas application thanks to Duke Global!

Questions about the Global Summit may be directed to careworknetwork2025@gmail.com