Decolonial Care: Reimagining Caregiving in the French Caribbean

Decolonial Care examines the relationship between the legacies of colonialism and the dynamics of caregiving that have emerged from the French Caribbean. Through a variety of media, including novels, graphic narratives, and curatorial discourse, this book explores four key contexts that bring into focus the intersection of care and colonialism: care-focused gender roles; domestic service; nurturing human life and environments; and curation as caring. Decolonial Care argues that to imagine caregiving in the context of the French Caribbean means reckoning with intrinsically uncaring practices inherited from colonial rule that show disregard for human life and environments. Putting in dialogue postcolonial studies and care studies, this book first aims to elucidate how caring and uncaring have been historically shaped by colonialism. It then shows how media and narratives about the French Caribbean document the damaging impact of colonialism, but also how they help develop decolonial approaches to care that sustain human life and livable environments.