Our contemporary moment is rife with injustices and crises: environmental disasters, climate change, racial divides, political divides, sexual misconduct, and high unemployment and debt rates, amongst other urgent challenges. While it is important to recognize these problems and call for change, we can also learn from caring initiatives that foster new ways of living, based in relationality, respect, and mutual support. How to Care More offers a definition of care based in relational action, highlighting care as an umbrella concept that can catalyze personal and social change. Each chapter provides an overview of one skill to practice caring more, including listening, consent, collaboration, and cultivating inclusion, love, and resilience that will enhance personal wellbeing and relationships with others, in our families, workplaces, and communities. With definitions of key terms and hands-on activities, How to Care More offers thought-provoking discussion and powerful examples of small-scale action and community building that can have a big impact, empowering readers to work towards positive social change.
Miranda Campbell is associate professor in the School of Creative Industries at Ryerson University in Toronto, where she teaches courses in creative collaboration, diversity, equity, inclusion, and care ethics. Her research focuses on creative employment, youth culture, and small-scale and emerging forms of cultural production. Her first book, Out of the Basement: Youth Cultural Production in Practice and in Policy, mapped the changing realities of youth self-employment in creative fields in the 21st century and was shortlisted for the Donner Prize for the best public policy book by a Canadian. Dr. Campbell's involvement with creative communities includes coordination and participation on the board of directors with Rock Camp for Girls Montreal, a summer camp dedicated to empowerment for girls through music education, and with Whippersnapper Gallery, an artist-run center focusing on emerging artists in Toronto.
Introduction: Fostering Care The introduction chapter gives an overview of both the need for and the rise in caring values. Chapter 1 sets the stage for the book by giving an overview of the importance of care and a people-centered approach in opposition the contemporary neoliberal demands of competitiveness and self-reliance. This chapter introduces care as a central value, that centers relationality. Following Fisher and Tronto (1990), I mobilize a definition of care as a process, including caring about (attentiveness to a problem), caring for (taking responsibility for a problem), care giving (competently addressing the problem) and care receiving (responsiveness to how the care was delivered). Two profiles illustrate the principle of youth-led peer support / teaching and learning in this chapter: Alt Gen (London, UK): This co-operative was set up by two young women to respond to the widespread youth unemployment crisis in the Great Recession period. Alt Gen suggests that young people should stop competing with one another for scarce resources and instead should start collaborating. As a co-operative, Alt Gen teaches young people how to create their own co-operatives, and offers funding to help youth set up their own initiatives. H.O.L.L.A. (NYC, USA). H.O.L.L.A. stands for "How Our Lives Link Together" and offers programming for youth to understand their place within broader systems of power and work towards empowerment, all the while underscoring love, working together, and taking care of one another. H.O.L.L.A. was founded by 6 young men in a New York correctional facility who were already facing extensive prison sentences by their 21st birthdays. H.O.L.L.A. has developed its own Healing-Centered Youth Organizing Curriculum, which informs its youth programs in the areas of knowledge sharing, leadership training, and collective formation. Concluding Activity: Intersectionality Card Game This activity gives instruction for readers to make and arrange cards to consider different aspects of their intersectional selves, so that readers can reflect on their own identities and how they relate and interact with others. Chapter 1: Listen Caring for one another starts from a place of willingness to listen. Though we might think listening is an innate ability, most people don't know how to listen very well. This chapter forwards listening as an active skill that needs commitment, practice, and patience, and an other-focus rather than a self-focus. Chapter 1 gives an overview of the practices of amplification, or highlighting the words of marginalized voices in group settings, calling out vs. calling in, or when to publicly denounce bad behavior vs. when to invite offenders to reconsider their ways, and allyship, or using privilege to support the work of marginalized groups. The focus in Chapter 1 is listening in conversations, but also listening more broadly, in the sense of paying attention to others, understanding and appreciating others' stories. This takes on particular importance in the context of historically marginalized groups, whose stories have not been listened to or valued in society. Two profiles illustrate the principles of listening in this chapter: Call Your Girlfriend podcast (online). Call Your Girlfriend is a podcast about long-distance female friendship, based in "shine theory" which, as the podcast explains, means that "that when one of us shines, we all do. Our default is collaboration, not competition." The podcast discusses and celebrates the experiences of women as the two hosts Aminatou and Ann call each other to discuss pop culture and politics. Think and Die Thinking Collective (San Jose, California): This DIY punk collective works to bring together those with "othered" identities through an annual arts festival. Think and Die Thinking's mission is to facilitate musical events, workshops, dance nights, while "protect[ting] the safe spaces created for those who feel systematically othered in our community (ie. queer folks, transfolks, people of color, youth, etc.)" Concluding Activity: Active Listening This worksheet provides active listening exercises to practice in a group of three, with a provided modification to also do the exercises alone. Chapter 2: Consent In 2017, the number of women and other marginalized people coming forward to speak about their experience of sexual harassment in the creative industries caused many commentators to describe the zeitgeist as a "watershed" or "tipping point" in acknowledging inequities in these industries. TIME magazine named "The Silence Breakers," or the women coming forward to expose rampant sexual misconduct in the creative industries, as the Person of the Year. But long before this moment, grassroots educators have been working to create awareness about consent amongst a broader "rape culture." Chapter 3 gives an overview of principles of consent, including bodily autonomy and negotiation. These principles are important in the context of sexual violence and in the work of moving from rape culture to a culture of consent. These principles of consent are also important in the context of cultural appropriation, a one-sided process of using or benefited from someone else's culture, that can intentionally or unintentionally cause harm. Chapter 3 highlights the important of reciprocity and relationship building in navigating consent, and outlines the differences between cultural appreciation and cultural appropriation. Two profiles illustrate the principle of consent in this chapter: #AfterMeToo (online): Founded by three women working in the entertainment industries, #AfterMeToo is working to establish accountability in these industries, creating solidarity to counter sexual violence. The group has produced a series of recommendations to combat sexual violence and sexual harassment, including funding for support services and the creation of national organizations to address sexual violence in the entertainment industries. Beyond Buckskin (Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation and online): When Jessica Metcalfe was completing her PhD, she researched how Indigenous artists could be supported, given the long-standing history of appropriating Indigenous cultures. After she graduated, she decided to put her ideas into practice by creating the Beyond Buckskin business, which "promotes cultural appreciation, social relationships, authenticity and creativity." As both a bricks and mortar and online shop, Beyond Buckskin sells creations from Indigenous designers and jewelry artists, and believes in a philosophy of "positive activism and a desire to share our cultures with the world through fashion design." Concluding Activity: Appropriation or Appreciation Case Studies Is it cultural appropriation to celebrate elements of someone else's culture? This activity provides a series of scenarios from recent news stories in order to investigate the principles of appreciation vs. appropriation in light of the concepts from Chapter 2 about consent and reciprocity. Chapter 3: Inclusion Inclusion of diverse types of people doesn't happen by merely being welcoming. While diversity can refer to demographic difference (including race, gender, social class, sexuality, ability / disability, age, and so on), inclusion characterizes the nature of a climate or culture, including a feeling a belonging alongside difference being recognized and valued (Shore et al., 2011; Shore, Cleveland, & Sanchez, 2018). Here, the book focuses on equity and centering difference as the work of cultivating inclusion. Inclusion is intentional and fostered through structural mechanisms. In this way, it must be actively cultivated and sown. While we might recognize these qualities are needed in an ecological sense, to nurture plant life to grow, Chapter 3 suggests we can learn from these examples of cultivating the earth to consider how we can best cultivate inclusion. In Chapter 3, I turn to the lessons from youth food collectives that also actively cultivate inclusion. Two profiles illustrate the principles of cultivation and inclusion in this chapter: Roots to Harvest (Thunder Bay, Canada): Under the mantra of "punks growing food," Roots to Harvest provides training and employment to marginalized youth to learn to grow their own food in remote and rural areas. Projects include community gardens, market vending, a food delivery cycling program. Agrikua (Nairobi, Kenya): Agrikua is the Swahili word for "grow," and is an international project with a particular focus on the African context that was founded by ten young people from across the globe. As an online platform, Agrikua aims to create greater gender equality in the agricultural sector and provides tools for young women to start their own agricultural businesses. Concluding Activity: How to Build Your Own Self-Watering Container Garden This activity lists easy-to-obtain materials and provides illustrated instructions for readers to build their own low-maintenance container gardens, suitable for a small space like a balcony, porch, or rooftop. Chapter 4: Collaborate Like "creativity," collaboration has become a contemporary buzzword, mobilized to mean everything and nothing. From the rise of co-working spaces to the so-called "sharing" economy, collaboration is a term that is valued in contemporary culture, but is also used in hollow but celebratory ways. Nonetheless, working with others can push us to a more creative and innovative place than we can access on our own. Chapter 4 of this book moves past the buzz to clearly define collaboration as the desire to meaningfully work together in group-based settings, across differences, with a commitment to putting in the work to realize these group efforts. In opposition to popular celebrations of creative collaboration that highlight serendipity and creative "soulmates," this chapter emphasizes the necessary commitment, the work, and the challenges of working with others in collaborative ventures. Chapter 4 gives an overview of best practices in creative collaboration, including shared vision, valuing differences and diversity, creating a structure or framework, creating a supportive environment for the whole self, and committing to behind-the scenes-logistical work. Two profiles illustrate the principles of creative collaboration in this chapter: Mahoyo (Stockholm, Sweeden): Mahoyo (a combination of the Mandarin and Somali words for "mother)" is creative collective working across artistic mediums under the mantra of "busy building the future." Working transnationally, fostering creative exchanges in places like Johannesburg, the collective aims to break stereotypes in gender, race, and location. Reconstruct (Amsterdam, Netherlands): When six members of the graduating class of the William de Kooning Academy heard there would be no money for a fashion show, they decided to crowdfund to make their own. Working with a shared vision and complementary skill sets, the collective has referred to itself as a "strong girl squad" and continues to produce fashion lines together. Concluding Activity: Accessibility Design Challenge Who is invited to participate when we design products and services and who is excluded? How can we collaborate when many folks are left out of the picture? This activity guides readers through an activity to redesign a favorite product or service so it is more accessible to a broader range of users. Chapter 5: Love Like "collaboration," love can sometimes be an easy platitude, because we all know that love is important and that we should love one another. But love also takes commitment, work, and active presence. Black feminist Audre Lorde's discussion of self-care positions love for the self as a radical act: "caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare." Love for the self takes on particular importance for marginalized people, whose identities have been devalued, criminalized, and erased. The neoliberal turn towards individual self-management may have resulted in self-care being depoliticized, or turned towards consumer-based activities like shopping and spa visits. Rather than suggest that self-love is a consumer-based practice, Chapter 5 highlights centering the self, taking care of the self, and affirming the self. While the book advocates for a relational concept of the self, Chapter 5 reminds readers to center themselves and to prioritize themselves alongside the other-directed work that has been outlined in the book. Two profiles illustrate the principle of self-love in this chapter: #LoveYourz (NYC, USA): #LoveYourz started as a small Facebook group, a place for teens to support each other and encourage self-love and creativity. Now the teen self-love group has translated into a real-world movement of positive energy and peer support. Black Lives Matter Toronto Freedom School (Toronto, Canada): A three week summer program for Black children ages 4-10, the Freedom School teaches self-love, responding to a lack of humanizing, self-affirming, and queer positive educational opportunities for Black children in the formal education sector. Concluding Activity: Self- Care Guide Self-care is more than treating yourself to nice things. In this activity, readers create a plan to take care of themselves through difficult times. Conclusion: Remaining Resilient The popular Netflix documentary Knock Down the House follows four grassroots candidates trying to get elected in the US primaries. One of these candidates, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, is shown canvassing for signatures with her niece. She tells her niece, "for every 10 rejections, you get one acceptance, and that's how you win everything." Beyond a discourse of winning vs. losing, the conclusion of the book highlights the ongoing and process-oriented nature of care work, the need for persistence, and the importance of celebrating small wins. Persisting through troubling times takes courage, perseverance, and inner strength. It also means working with others to keep going through challenges and setbacks. This concluding chapter reviews the strategies of care covered through the tools of the book while highlighting resilience. These strategies of listening, consent, inclusion, collaboration, and love are reviewed through three closing profiles of youth and youth collectives who have resiliently worked to create more space and opportunities for others. Concluding Voices: Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Malala Yousafizi Jazz Jennings has worked to normalize and create acceptance for trans youth and trans people across platforms, including her television show and book, I am Jazz and Being Jazz. At 18, Jazz has recently undergone gender reassignment surgery. Ezra Green, a young Mi'kmaw activist, part of the Cree youth Nishiyuu journey where Indigenous youth walked 1600 kilometers from a Cree village in Northern Quebec to the seat of Canadian government in Ottawa, in support of the Idle No More movement that protests for Indigenous people's rights.states, " Concluding Activity: Vision Board and Resilience Affirmations This final activity of the book invites readers to map their own journeys of where they have been, who they are currently, where they are going, and who is with them, supporting them. This vision board mapping concludes with resilience affirmations to persist in the face of adversity.
