Towards Postcapitalist Economies of Care: Transformative Care in the Meantime

While it is common to think of care as maintenance work, care is also an impetus for surplus generation for transforming economies. While some of this surplus is monetary, more of it comes in the form of time and energy and emotional labour dedicated to transformation. In this talk, I draw on four case studies In the Asia-Pacific to argue that care is a transformative force in society and the economy. The talk analyses the case studies according to surplus generation and appropriation, where surplus is generated through the obligations and demands of care for and with others. I finish with a reflection on the politics of collective action – with reference to the question “how can care be collectivised to prompt transformation?”

Kelly Dombroski is Professor in Geography at the School of People, Environment and Planning, Massey University, New Zealand. She studies community development in Asia-Pacific, with a focus on diverse economies, community economies and the things people do to support their livelihoods that are usually ignored by economists. She is the founding member of the Community Economies Institute. She is the author of Caring for Life, A Postdevelopment Politics of Infant Higiene (Unniversity of Minnesota Press, 2024).