Unconventional Carers

Abstract

In 1993 Joan Tronto identified the devaluing and uneven distribution of care within society. Tronto observed that “care-giving” is mostly done by ‘women and men of colour’ and white working class women, while ‘caring about’ and ‘taking care of’ roles are the province of the powerful (Tronto 1993: 114). Some progress has been made in recognising the value of care-givers, and more groups are now in ‘taking care of’ roles. However, consideration needs also to be given to those traditionally excluded from care roles. I am interested in what occurs when individuals who are seen as requiring care, such as children, take on the role of carers within or through performance. I argue such reorientations can produce positive reassessments and effects, including new perspectives, new respect, and agency for those habitually seen as vulnerable. In this article, I examine why children have often been seen as incapable of care. I then explore the effects and impact of children taking on care roles in and through a theatre performance. I use as an example Lara Thoms’ and Tamara Hersch’s award-winning experimental production We All Know What’s Happening (2017-19), which details the colonisation history of Nauru and its use as a detention centre for asylum seekers. The production was performed and co-devised by a group of Australian children who corresponded with child asylum seekers in Nauru. It involves children caring and speaking for children. The production puts forth a mode of caring which deconstructs binaries, offers new ways of seeing, and a critique, in this case, of the perceived carelessness of Australian adults towards asylum seekers in Nauru. In an age of child activists, it is time for a reassessment of perceptions of dependence and vulnerability and who can be carers.