Collective Care and Affective Contextures in the Anthropocene

Thursday, February 6, 2025
2:00 PM - 3:00 PM

Dr. Ivana Guarrasi is Assistant Professor in theDepartment of Communication & Media at MSU,Mankato, where her research is situated at theintersection of interdisciplinary communicationstudies, science and technology studies (STS), andcritical health communication. She completed herPh.D. in Communication at the University ofCalifornia, San Diego, and she currently serves asan editor of Mind, Culture, and Activity.

This talk explores how nurses in U.S. hospitals co-create andrely on informal forms of collective care to compensate for alack of adequate organizational support. Drawing oninterviews with nurses, the analysis focuses on collective carethrough the lens of affective contextures—a dynamicrelational fabric intertwining emotional, social, and materialdimensions of care. The findings reveal that while thesepractices can lead to burnout and exhaustion, theysimultaneously mobilize creative and informal resilience,fostering communal support. These emergent practices notonly sustain the institutional ecosystem of healthcare but alsoprefigure more humane and sustainable approaches toorganizing care work. By emphasizing the significance ofaffectivity and collective care, this talk critiques theneoliberal logic and current organization of care work thatrender these vital practices invisible and unaccounted forwithin formal systems.