Care Anthropology / Anthropology of Caring

 Subject Overview Anthropology increasingly recognises care as a fundamental aspect of human life—not just in terms of healthcare, but also in its social, moral, and relational dimensions. This subject uses an anthropological perspective to analyse how care shapes human experience, both in everyday life and through systems like health and welfare. We use key concepts to help us analyse and understand care in a variety contexts: Society and Culture Kinship The Gift More-than-human Embodiment Gender Structure & Agency Violence Governmentality Neoliberalism Self-Care By examining care through these concepts, we learn how people support each other and how societies manage vulnerability and need. As we will see, care belongs alongside classic anthropological themes like kinship, language, the body, religion and magic, ethnicity and race, and gender and sexuality as a core concern of the discipline. Assessments Quizzes (1,200 words equivalent)--30% Short Essay (1,300 words equivalent...

Welcome to Week 1 of Transforming Lives through Care . This is the first week of a course in the Anthropology of Care at La Trobe University. Raising Miro 🎯 Learning Goals Understand what anthropology is and how it can be used to study everyday life. Explore how care—something we often take for granted—can be analysed as a cultural and social practice. Define three key concepts: care, culture, and society. Reflect on how your own experiences of care are shaped by social structures and values. 🚦 Introduction: Anthropology & Care Anthropology is the study of humans in all their diversity—how we live, relate, make meaning, and organise life together. In this subject, we use anthropology to ask big questions about care: Who gives it? Who receives it? How is it shaped by culture, class, gender, race, and more? You’ll see that care isn’t just a feeling—it’s a set of practices, systems, and relationships that help hold societies together. 📘 Essential M...

 Family—however you define it—is one of the main ways care is organised around the world. Whether based on blood, marriage, or chosen ties, these relationships shape who looks after who. Anthropologists use kinship diagrams to explore how people understand family, belonging, and responsibility. In this task, you’ll map your own version of family to start thinking about care and connection in cultural terms. How can we create a diagram or a map of our family relations. In this worksheet, we use a controversial diagramming tool. 🌿 Your task Your task is to create a family tree, or what anthropologists call a  genealogy .  Draw your family tree. Grab yourself a piece of paper, a pencil (or three), an eraser then follow along with these instructions to draw your genealogy. Depict care relations- -here's how Indicate your No.1 Carer, as shown here . If you have any further questions, check the details below. 🌿 Kinship Mapping (details)  For this task, you'...

Welcome to Week 2 of Transforming Lives through Care  at La Trobe University. Last week, you completed a brief introduction to  anthropology  and to  care  and we focused on two anthropological concepts:  society  and  culture . Now we are going to another classic anthropological concept-- kinship --in order to understand care. The contention is that the family is structured and it provides the most basic structure for providing of care in human societies.  🎯 Learning Goals By the end of this week, you should be able to: explain the idea of  kinship use the concept of   kinship  to analyse caring practices  critique the idea of  kinship 🚦  Introduction: Kinship Kinship  is the study of families in different cultures—who counts as family, the roles family members play, and how these relationships are formed and understood. In every culture I know of, caring is a crucial part of family life. This week, we an...

2. Worksheet Caring for Children Many people around the world receive care from their family. But the patterns of care differ according to a culture's kinship structure.   In this activity, w e will: introduce how  anthropologists  approach the questions of kinship and care consider the Musuo--the so called 'Women's Kingdom" in China Introduction It seems 'natural' that biological parents should look after children. But anthropologists think that's this 'natural' is actually  cultural . Humans  are  socialised  to feel that our culture’s  kinship  patterns are normal. If  kin  didn't seem natural to us, it wouldn't work. But as an anthropologist, you need to progress past that feeling. So the purpose of this week’s exercises is to de-naturalise your understanding of  family . Once you have done that, you will be ready to analyse how  kinship  and  care  are inter-related from a  re...

Care from mother's brother in other cultures In a previous worksheet, we considered how your mother's brother is responsible for your care among the Musuo of China. It is not just among the Musuo. In many cultures, your mother's brother, not your father, is responsible for providing affectionate care for you. In other societies he is the stern disciplinarian. Why is it one or the other? Anthropologist Levi-Strauss thought he had the answer. The following diagram explains: Generation Observe that:  the husband - wife - brother all belong to one generation (highlighted in green) the son (nephew) belongs to another generation (highlighted in blue) Notice how, among the Trobriand Islanders: within one generation, one relationship is + and one is  - between the generations, one relationship is - and one is + The same applies fo...

  Assessment: Kinship Mapping in Action This week, you'll apply what you've learned by adding key relationships to your kinship diagram. These additions will help you see how different cultures emphasise different family roles—especially the maternal uncle, or  avuncular  figure. 1. Indicate one  affinal  relationship--this is an 'in-law relationship.       ➤ Use a dotted line between two people who are related by marriage (e.g. your parent and their spouse; your mother and her father-in-law). 2. Indicate one consanguineal relationship--this is a blood tie.      ➤ Use a squiggly or wavy line to show a blood tie (e.g. you and your sibling, or your parent and grandparent). 3. Find and label the avuncular relationship--this is the mother's brother.   ➤: Do you have an uncle on your mother’s side? If so, draw an arrow pointing to him. If not, choose the closest maternal relativ...

 Welcome to Week 3 of Transforming Lives through Care.  Last week, we saw how care can be analysed in terms of the kinship. Now we are going to another classic anthropological concept--The Gift--in order to understand care. Now we are going to look at communication as care.  Say "hello" to your mum from me. Why is passing on a "hello" important for some people? Arnold thinks that communication is not just about passing along information. Actually, it can be a gift and a form of care. 🎯 Learning Goals You should be able to: analyse gift-giving practices using the concepts of the Gift  and reciprocity 🚦  Introduction The gift  a crucial concept in anthropology. When we get a present from someone we feel (if we are social people) at least a tiny obligation to give something back. This means that an object, say flowers or a card, is actually a form of currency for social relations. The idea here is that much of the care that humans provide for each other take...

Why Gifts Matter Part of being social in your culture means participating in a  gift economy . But most of the time we’re hardly aware of it. We just do it: we give, receive, and reciprocate—following along with often invisible rules. But these rules matter. They shape who we care for, and who cares for us. They reveal hidden hierarchies, expectations, and affections.  In this worksheet, you’ll observe how gifts move through your kin network and what that tells us about your own  social world . As we explore care in this subject, this understanding will become central. Gifts for the Dead Gift-giving isn’t just for the living. Who are the recipients in the following examples? Laying flowers at a grave site Saying a toast to deceased friends or family Water and tequila on a Día de los Muertos altar Wearing poppies on Anzac Day  What do the dead  receive  in these moments? Can we analyse these acts as gifts? Why or why not?  Saludos & Remitt...

Seminar Activities  Reciprocity: Saludos and Remittances When someone migrates for work, they often stay connected to their family not just through phone calls—but through money. Arnold shows us that in many Salvadoran families,  remittances and warm greetings go hand in hand . If the money stops, the messages stop too. Is this cold? Not necessarily. It might just be another way of keeping love going across distance— through mutual responsibility . t he Portillo family recorded saludos to several mi- grant siblings. The son who had stopped sending remittances was not included in the list of those being greeted (p. 143) In this way,  money doesn’t cancel love—it makes it possible . Without remittances, the migrant is no longer part of the family circuit of care. The relationship frays. It’s tempting to say that if love is real, it shouldn’t depend on money. But Arnold helps us see it differently: in these families,  emotional connection is expressed through acts of gi...