Bridging the past, present, and future is something that comes naturally to Premilla Nadasen, Barnard’s Ann Whitney Olin Professor of History. As a historian, she has grappled with the nation’s complex history through research on Black and brown women’s struggles for economic justice. As an activist, professor, and co-director of the Barnard Center for Research on Women (BCRW) with Professor Janet Jakobsen, she is actively shaping how best to understand the “care economy.”
After the end of the term last spring, for example, Nadasen piloted a weeklong BCRW Feminist Freedom School for students who want to contribute to social change and learn how to do so outside of traditional higher education models. The pilot drew inspiration from the Freedom Schools of the 1960s but was designed to cultivate contemporary scholar-activism among students.
Over the past decade, Nadasen has brought her perspective to the classroom, guiding students as they learn what it means to be a care worker in a global economy. This semester, she is giving students firsthand experience of the inner workings of advocacy organizations in this field by directly collaborating with the Damayan Migrant Workers Association, a New York City-based group that empowers survivors to combat labor trafficking. This is the fourth time Nadasen has offered the class.
As a complement to her work in the classroom, Nadasen has authored books on the welfare rights movement and household workers, and she’s currently working on a biography of South African singer and activist Miriam Makeba. Her latest, Care: The Highest Stage of Capitalism, has just been published and explores how today’s “care economy” breeds economic and social inequality.
With so many irons in the fire, it comes as no surprise that Nadasen was recently named a 2023 Marguerite Casey Foundation Freedom Scholar. The prestigious award honors individuals who, through cutting-edge research and organizing efforts, demonstrate a commitment to improving democracy, economy, and society. As part of the program, Nadasen will receive $250,000 to advance her work.
This achievement builds on a long list of career accomplishments: Nadasen was awarded the inaugural Ann Snitow Prize for outstanding feminist activist and intellectual work in 2020.
In this “5 Questions With …,” Nadasen shares the issues at hand in her latest book and how she plans to dedicate her time as a Marguerite Casey Foundation Freedom Scholar.
What inspired you to write a book dedicated to care?
I began working on the book in the middle of the pandemic. My intention was to push the boundaries about how we talk about care and to ask, “How can we develop a care agenda to meet the needs of everyone? Is that possible under the current economic system? If not, how can we reimagine the economy to create a more caring society?”
There has always been inequality in care, but it became exacerbated and more visible during the pandemic. Who has access to care and how well care workers are compensated are informed by long-standing institutionalized powers and patterns that deemed both the labor and lives of Black and brown people less valuable. Equally troubling was the enormous profit that was being reaped by the private and public sectors during a global crisis — and often at the expense of the people who needed the most care.
Watch the video of Nadasen discussing how social change happens, courtesy of the Marguerite Casey Foundation:
What is our society missing when it comes to understanding the definition and historical context of care?
Too often, care is defined in terms of the white middle-class family. Conversations about the “care crisis” usually revolve around the work-family balance, family-friendly corporate policies, and child tax credits. These are all vital. But there is too little discussion about the poorest people, people with intermittent work histories, people without jobs, unhoused people. These are folks who cannot take advantage of tax credits or generous corporate policies. We have to incorporate into the care agenda policies such as universal healthcare, housing as a right, and a guaranteed annual income. I think the best measure of a caring society is its success in caring for the neediest.
What was your reaction to finding out you were named a 2023 Marguerite Casey Foundation Freedom Scholar?
I’m still trying to wrap my head around it. Of course, so much of my work is collaborative, so my inclination is to first acknowledge the collective projects I am involved in — [such as Damayan and the Mississippi Low-Income Child Care Initiative (MLICCI)] — including the people I work with right here at Barnard.
At the same time, in academia, certain forms of privileged and exclusive knowledge get recognized and bestowed with honors. It is truly an honor to be part of this effort to foreground a different kind of learning and teaching, to be acknowledged for work that rarely counts as part of academic labor.
How do you plan to spend your time in the program?
With the BCRW team and Professor Ujju Aggarwal of the New School for Social Research, I am planning a convening in April [2024] at Barnard that brings together scholars, activists, and academics to analyze the politics of care and consider how we can build a progressive movement around radical care.
The center is truly a space of collective thinking and action, as it has been for decades. It’s a privilege to be associated with it, work with the amazing staff, and cultivate relationships with people inside and outside Barnard.
Progress sometimes moves at a slow pace, and activist burnout is a real thing. How do you stay motivated knowing the road to social justice is a long one?
I’ve been an activist and an organizer for almost four decades. There have been lulls but also moments of possibility and excitement. Even when things seem to be at a standstill or moving in the wrong direction, the long arc of history demonstrates that there has been progress, a result of ordinary people devoting themselves to social change even during trying times.
I draw inspiration from historical figures and from the grassroots community organizations around the country that I have come to know, like child care advocates in Mississippi and domestic workers in New York who know there is simply too much at stake to give up and give in to burnout.
To learn more about Professor Nadasen’s work:
READ: How the Care Economy Became So Warped and What We Can Do About It
LISTEN: Throughline podcast on the fantasy of the ideal mother
WATCH: Fall 2020 Welcome to Class: COVID-19 and Care Work
