The Politics of Care in Inter-Asia (CAREIA) 2026-2028

This is a research initiative for CCRD that examines care as a contested cultural, ethical, socioeconomic, and political practice for Inter-Asia as the interconnected sites and sources for social transformation. It is led by Prof. John Erni, Dean of Arts and Chair Professor of Cultural Research.

It begins from a simple but consequential proposition: care is never merely a private sentiment, familial obligation, or professional service. It is a material biopolitical infrastructure through which social relations are organized, lives are sustained, and unequal distributions of labour, recognition, security, and vulnerability are reproduced – or challenged.

Drawing on cultural studies, materialist media studies, feminist theory, environmental humanities, critical legal theory, and critical public health, CAREIA will develop a comparative vocabulary for analyzing care through bringing scholars, cultural workers, educators, artists, community organizers, and care practitioners into dialogue, linking conceptual inquiry with grounded research and public engagement.

In 2022-2025, Erni established the “Comparative Cultures of Care” research platform (CCC) at the Faculty of Humanities of The Education University of Hong Kong (www.culturesofcare.net). With generous funding from EduHK, the team hosted the international “Theorizing Care” online reading group, liased with youth NGOs to probe the question of youth commons, worked with schools to develop and theorize the pedagogy of care, held two major international “Care Conferences,” built an interactive care portal for research and social engagement, and delivered major publications.

At CCRD, Erni will bring the insights gained from the CCC project to expand the research focus, capacity, and impact, through synergizing with the research interests of CCRD and the Department of Cultural Studies, broadening the scope of critical care studies to engage with the activities of the Inter-Asia Cultural Studies Society, and seeking additional funding.

For 2026-27, CAREIA will focus on two projects:

·         Brown Studies: On the Agentic Migrants

·         Difficult Care in “End Times”

As for 2027-28, CAREIA will consolidate around the project of:

·         The Politics of Care in Inter-Asia: Slow Death and Collective Afterlife