In Depth: Care Work

3 units

In this course we will study what it means to care for and about others, both within and beyond medical and institutional environments. Examining French and Francophone literary and cinematic representations of care, popular and scholarly discourses, and the testimonials of care workers, we will explore the question of care across difference: How does the labor of care bring to light (and rely upon) disparities in gender, class, age, and race, especially in colonial, postcolonial, and globalized contexts? What are the implications of feminist theories of a gendered ethics of care? What relations can care work forge between the human and more-thanhuman worlds? How does care work expose the vulnerabilities of patient and caregiver alike? This course is taught entirely in French and counts toward the French for the Health Professions (FPS) track and the minor in Medical Humanities. Prerequisite: one In Perspective course