Global care, local configurations: Challenges to conceptualizations of care

Abstract

Migration, along with the implied geographies of the ethics of care literature and policy initiatives vis-à-vis care have increasingly led to the adoption of the ‘global’ as the most appropriate level for analysing care. Much of the empirical work underpinning analyses of care, however, was done at particular sites and had specific emphases that are now being adopted in the analysis of care globally. In this article, I suggest the need for empirical research from other parts of the world to inform, build on and challenge the existing theorizations of transnational care. Using examples from India, I highlight some ways in which (a) recognizing the varied genealogies of care in different places, (b) bringing together the literature on care diamonds with that on care chains, and (c) recognizing the diversity of family forms and the increasing transnationalization of markets, the state and civil society may enrich existing care chain analysis. I thus suggest that we need to explore what differences in the infrastructural architecture of care means for how we theorize care in the context of migration. I outline some elements of a new research agenda, not only for research on India but also for recognizing the importance of heterogeneous care arrangements in a globalizing world of care.