Just Care: Messy Entanglements of Disability, Dependency, and Desire

Akemi Nishida's book "Just Care" explores the challenges of care injustice and social justice, highlighting how the healthcare industrial complex has turned care into a business opportunity and a mechanism of social oppression and control. It also examines how people with disabilities come together to assemble community care collectives and bed activism to reimagine care as a key element for social change. The book identifies what care does and asks how we can activate care justice or just care.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 279 pages
Publication date: 22 July 2022
Publisher: Temple University Press,U.S.

"Just Care" is a profound exploration by Akemi Nishida of the injustices and inequalities enabled by care, delving into the complex dynamics of care within the current neoliberal political economy. Nishida examines the challenges faced by individuals who occupy various roles in the care system, including caregivers, recipients, and those who navigate both positions. Additionally, she sheds light on the collaborative efforts of people with disabilities to establish community care collectives and engage in bed activism (resistance and visions emerging from the space of bed), aiming to reimagine care as a vital catalyst for social change.

Nishida argues that the very structure of care is intricately intertwined with and perpetuates the harsh social order that is shaped by factors such as disability, race, gender, migration status, and wealth. At the same time, many marginalized communities view care as the cornerstone of their activism. Through in-depth interviews, focus groups, and participant observation with care workers and individuals with disabilities, "Just Care" delves into the lives unfolding within the assemblage of Medicaid long-term care programs, community-based care collectives, and bed activism.

The book identifies the transformative potential of care and poses the crucial question: How can we foster care justice or just care, where individuals experience affirmative care and care is utilized for the well-being of communities and the creation of a just world? Nishida's insightful analysis offers valuable insights into the complexities of care and provides a roadmap for promoting a more equitable and compassionate care system.

Dimension: 229 x 152 x 28 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781439919903