'Se Pesa': Structural Uncaring in the COVID-19 Pandemic and Caregivers' Kinships of Care

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated racial and economic inequities in the United States, intertwining labor and health. This research focuses on immigrant Latina caregivers whose "essential labor" is often excluded from #HealthcareHeroes rhetoric. Building from insights gained working with immigrant-facing community organization in Tacoma, Washington, this research combines artistic portraiture and ethnographic methods to center caregivers as essential workers deserving of respect, attention, and artistic portrayal. Applying theories of racial capitalism and feminist care labor this work contributes to the growing body of scholarship on the ways in which the pandemic has highlighted racialized landscapes of uncaring. This project offers the opportunity to learn how caregivers continue to build kinships of care as they navigate precarity to care for themselves, their families, and clients when the state and their employers fail to care for them back.