Proceedings of The Global Conference on Women’s Studies
Year: 2020
DOI: https://www.doi.org/10.33422/womensconf.2020.12.130
Care and Community Revalued During The COVID-19 Pandemic: A Feminist Couple Perspective
Swati Vohra , Mandeep Taneja
ABSTRACT:
The global pandemic crisis led to the surface crushing economy, deep inequalities, lack of medical support; however, it also exposed us to the vulnerabilities of living in a virtually connected world and underscored the dimensions of revaluing care ethics and community in these unprecedented times and beyond. The paper is based on Nel-Nodding’s feminist theory of ethics of care and draws references to our lived experiences of dynamic forms and idiosyncratic practice of care ethics during the pandemic. We discuss care ideas mainly – caring-about and caring-for interplaying within a three-stage model: Home – A commonplace, Care Ethics in Community, and Care Ethics for Self. The paper is an auto-ethnographic account of Indian academic couple in Japan, our observations of adapting relationships and challenges faced due to social-physical detachment in the three areas as mentioned above. It was observed that there is an implicit desire to be cared-for in individuals, various emotional and psychological challenges surfaced in adapting to a new virtual community. It re-emphasized the role of an individual in caring-for one’s community. Through this paper’s medium, we foster the idea of community support networks centered around care ethics as a fundamental value in the social fabric.
Keywords: Care Ethics, Community, Emotional-Wellbeing, Self-Care, Social Media.