For a long time, caring had been central to my life because of my value of connection. I now understand that connection demands and establishes care. My understandings of care have expanded throughout my time at University. I have come to learn that care is central to our understandings of social, political, and economic life in that it is present in every interaction, even when ignored.
I have brought care ethics into every academic, professional, and personal interaction I have. I have found that care is pivotal to our individual and collective success and survival. Caring for others, in their moments of crisis and their moments of success, is an essential part of the human experience. We are all connected relationally and interdependently. My academic, professional, and personal experiences have taught me that caring encourages responsibility and acknowledges interconnectedness.
These care ethics demand an extension of care to the unknown other through interpersonal, systemic, and structural means.
I have brought care ethics into every academic, professional, and personal interaction I have. I have found that care is pivotal to our individual and collective success and survival. Caring for others, in their moments of crisis and their moments of success, is an essential part of the human experience. We are all connected relationally and interdependently. My academic, professional, and personal experiences have taught me that caring encourages responsibility and acknowledges interconnectedness.
These care ethics demand an extension of care to the unknown other through interpersonal, systemic, and structural means.
RECOGNIZING RELATIONALITY
WINTER & SPRING 2018
I was first introduced to care ethics through my mentor, Dr. Vicky Lawson, professor of Geography and Director of the Honors Program. I had been working with her and Dr. Sarah Elwood, Chair of Geography, through the Relational Poverty Network (RPN). This network is a collection of scholars and activists re-centering poverty studies on relationships of power and privilege, rather than studying the poor other. We were working to establish a Poverty & Inequality studies minor on campus, which has been approved but is awaiting a director.
In the Winter of 2018, I had the incredible opportunity to take courses with Dr. Vicky Lawson and Chris Pearson. I was a part of HONORS 231: Citizenship Acts to Challenge Poverty, a class on poverty, homelessness, and acts of citizenship. In this, I worked with the RPN on a Podcast Project, making academic research accessible. In this, we delved into the root causes of homelessness: racism, classism, and homophobia/transphobia. We challenged common cultural narratives surrounding those affected by homelessness and considered how wealth, power, and privilege create and sustain impoverishment. The class made me realize the power of concentric circles in realizing change & the power of privilege in challenge hegemonic structures. My final year of school, I would help co-instruct/peer educate this course with Dr. Lawson.
In Spring 2018, I was a part of GEOG 542: Advanced Seminars in Geography, Relational Poverty with Prof Lawson and Prof Elwood. In this course, we engaged with the thinkability and unthinkability of projects: how people come to challenge hegemonic power, which challenges are viewed as acceptable, and how creativity breathes resilience. Throughout the course, we were asked to question our own positionalities as knowledge producers, whose lived experiences and care characterize the ways that we engage with the world. I would join this seminar again in Spring of 2020, this time exploring racial colonialism and our understandings of poverty politics.
In the Winter of 2018, I had the incredible opportunity to take courses with Dr. Vicky Lawson and Chris Pearson. I was a part of HONORS 231: Citizenship Acts to Challenge Poverty, a class on poverty, homelessness, and acts of citizenship. In this, I worked with the RPN on a Podcast Project, making academic research accessible. In this, we delved into the root causes of homelessness: racism, classism, and homophobia/transphobia. We challenged common cultural narratives surrounding those affected by homelessness and considered how wealth, power, and privilege create and sustain impoverishment. The class made me realize the power of concentric circles in realizing change & the power of privilege in challenge hegemonic structures. My final year of school, I would help co-instruct/peer educate this course with Dr. Lawson.
In Spring 2018, I was a part of GEOG 542: Advanced Seminars in Geography, Relational Poverty with Prof Lawson and Prof Elwood. In this course, we engaged with the thinkability and unthinkability of projects: how people come to challenge hegemonic power, which challenges are viewed as acceptable, and how creativity breathes resilience. Throughout the course, we were asked to question our own positionalities as knowledge producers, whose lived experiences and care characterize the ways that we engage with the world. I would join this seminar again in Spring of 2020, this time exploring racial colonialism and our understandings of poverty politics.
My final paper for GEOG 542, focused on keywords in poverty politics.
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My final paper for HONORS 231, focused on disruption.
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acknowledging interdependence
As I engaged with complex and nuanced course material, I have come to realize that responsibility falls onto a network, a constellation, of individuals. We all have focuses and interests that align with our talents. We all have choices. These choices matter. These choices connect us to other people.
We cannot forget that our decisions, even our indecisions, characterize our plight and the plights of others. I find this to be comforting, as I know that many people are thinking hard and working long on the same issues that keep me up at night.
And I ultimately know that the world's greatest, most wicked, and most complex problems require interprofessional answers. I know that my decision to pursue a career in medicine can both address the broader problems I care about and appeal to my own interests and talents.
We cannot forget that our decisions, even our indecisions, characterize our plight and the plights of others. I find this to be comforting, as I know that many people are thinking hard and working long on the same issues that keep me up at night.
And I ultimately know that the world's greatest, most wicked, and most complex problems require interprofessional answers. I know that my decision to pursue a career in medicine can both address the broader problems I care about and appeal to my own interests and talents.
EXTENDING CARE TO THE UNKNOWN OTHER
Throughout my college career, I have wrestled with my own positionality as a white, upper class white woman who benefits from the very systems that I am attempting to challenge. I have come to understand that caring is the responsibility of individuals as much as it is the responsibility of the state that is meant to support us. I cannot feel responsibility to care deeply for every unknown other. I can, however, interrogate what it means to live, and buy into, a system that only values & cares for specific lives. I now see my role as that of amplifying the voices and perspectives of people who have been marginalized.
Politically, my work has been focused on the care ethics of welfare. This has meant looking at the ways that the devaluation of care has been obscured from view, meaning that caring professions are less valued, & looking at welfare and the ways that legal structures have placed the responsibility of care onto charitable organizations.
Politically, my work has been focused on the care ethics of welfare. This has meant looking at the ways that the devaluation of care has been obscured from view, meaning that caring professions are less valued, & looking at welfare and the ways that legal structures have placed the responsibility of care onto charitable organizations.