The stories of fathers caring for non-verbal children and how these experiences alter their understandings of care, masculinity, and living a full life.
Vulnerable narratives of fatherhood are few and far between; rarer still is an ethnography that delves into the practical and emotional realities of intensive caregiving. Grounded in the intimate everyday lives of men caring for children with major physical and intellectual disabilities, Worlds of Care undertakes an exploration of how men shape their identities in the context of caregiving. Anthropologist Aaron J. Jackson fuses ethnographic research and creative nonfiction to offer an evocative account of what is required for men to create habitable worlds and find some kind of “normal” when their circumstances are anything but. Combining stories from his fieldwork in North America with reflections on his own experience caring for his severely disabled son, Jackson argues that care has the potential to transform our understanding of who we are and how we relate to others.
Aaron J. Jackson is an anthropologist living and working in Melbourne. His research focuses on fatherhood, care, and disability.
"Worlds of Care is a powerful and admirably candid deep dive into the experiences of men raising kids with significant cognitive and physical disabilities. By blending intimate accounts of his own experiences with insightful ethnographic research, Jackson casts light on a long-neglected realm of human experience."––Steve Silberman, author of NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity
"Many men are caring, supporting, championing their children with disabilities. Aaron J. Jackson's warm, rich, and nuanced account provides a welcome window into their lives and challenges us all to rethink who we are and who we can be."––Tom Shakespeare, Professor of Disability Research at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
"Worlds of Care is the rare book that advances scholarship, addresses significant contemporary issues, and is poignantly personal in a very accessible read. Aaron J. Jackson leverages his experience and ethnographic research on fathers caring for their disabled children to provide compelling analysis regarding the fraught relationship between masculinity and care."––Maurice Hamington, Professor of Philosophy, Portland State University
"Worlds of Care draws you deep into the everyday embodied experiences of fathers caring for children with major disabilities in a world that too often turns a blind eye. Richly and reflexively observed, analytically inspiring and utterly moving, this is an ethnographic tale with gravitas that will stay with you."––Tamara Kohn, Professor of Anthropology, University of Melbourne
"Intellectually, Jackson provides us with rich phenomenological insights into the experience of fathers bringing up children with profound cognitive disabilities. Moreover, at a personal level, he has given us a perceptive and profoundly moving insight into the disruptions that the care of such children brings to family life."––Bob Simpson, Professor of Anthropology, Durham University, UK
216 pp.6 x 9
9780520379855$29.95|£25.00Hardcover
Apr 2021