Development (2017) 60:50–56

https://doi.org/10.1057/s41301-017-0131-8

THEMATIC SECTION

Self-Care: An Act of Political Warfare or a Neoliberal Trap?

Published online: 8 December 2017

Abstract There is a momentum for self-care and well- resources to building knowledge about the lives and well-
being in feminist movements. Beyond neoliberal trends, we being of feminists and women human rights defenders, in a
can find deeply politicized and inter-generational practices holistic approach to our activism and our movements.
of care, and feminist ways of conceiving self-care and In What’s the Point of Revolution if We Can’t Dance
collective care, building sustainable and transformative (2007), Jane Barry and Jelena Ðord̄ević beautifully capture
organizations and movements, and comprehending what how difficult this conversation is to start. Activists readily
being well means in situations of injustice. In different speak about politics, human rights, and ending violence
corners on the world, feminists are developing provocative against women; but reflecting on one’s own activist life,
and creative models of care for survivors of violence, stress and workload, financial or family concerns, hopes
human rights defenders, activists, and organizations. and dreams, seemed irrelevant and required overcoming
quite a bit of resistance. So they started these conversations
Keywords Well-being
Feminism
Care
Movements
from public, organizational concerns—gradually proceed-
Activism
Trauma ing to the personal, discovering the linkage of the personal
and the political:
And finally, together, we came full circle and made
Self-Care: An Act of Political Warfare
the connection: that worries about feeding your
or a Neoliberal Trap?
family and or retiring without a pension are as
important as concerns about funding or combating
There is a momentum for self-care and well-being in
state-sponsored violence. That these are all part of the
feminist movements. For many years, feminists have been
same sustainability equation (Barry and Ðord̄ević
engaging with self-care and collective care, well-being and
2007: 8).
healing justice, protection and safety, as themes of political
significance for movement-building and social change. In the lead up to the 13th International AWID Forum, an
Yet, so far this work has been led by a few committed and inter-regional advisory group of activists, educators, and
impassioned activists, educators, and practitioners. Several practitioners expressed self-care and collective well-being
pioneering collectives and organizations have dedicated as a holistic and feminist philosophy of being in the world:
We are made up of not only heads full of intellect and
discernment, but of hearts that fuel our passion for
social justice, and bodies, without which we would
not be able to engage in the world around us. A
& Inna Michaeli symbol of patriarchal societies the world over, how-
[email protected] ever, is the separation of mind, heart and body;
1
Berlin, Germany feeling disembodied, disconnected rather than whole.
2
Toronto, Canada
Self-Care: An Act of Political Warfare or a Neoliberal Trap? 51

These forms of separation create stress for individu- families and societies; multiple care-giving responsibili-
als, organizations and societies.1 ties; and often unsustainable cultures of activism. Working
for social and political change can have a high price for the
In Strategies for Building an Organisation with a Soul,
activists who do this work.
Hope Chigudu and Rudu Chigudu (2015) ground self-care
Can we make our work for rights and justice less
and collective care as central elements of organizational
draining and stressful, likely leading to burnout and
sustainability and strategic leadership for feminist and
exhaustion? Can we recall from our past—or envision in
social justice agendas. Building on their knowledge and
our future—cultures of activism that are mindful of our
experience as African women’s rights activists, the authors
safety and well-being, healthier, kinder, caring? In other
outline concrete strategies to help organizations increase
words, how do we bring our feminist values and politics to
sustainability and impact, and to help activists thrive, feel
life in our organizations and movements? How do we
energized and motivated to make a difference in the world.
center the well-being of those historically marginalized,
They tell us organizations have souls—and soul songs—
and dismantle oppressive and social hierarchies and gender
and they remind us of the vitality and power of singing our
binaries in our own organizational structures? How can our
organization’s soul song in unison. I smile as I recall the
movements be transformative and embody the change we
songs of the political projects I took part in, even if we
wish to see in the world?
never paused to write down any lyrics or melody. Suddenly
Today, these and other questions are increasingly taking
I realize I carry those songs in my heart.
center stage.
These publications, efforts, and initiatives recognize that
feminist and social movements and organizations are living

beings, and so are the activists who inhabit them. As our Preparing for the Revolution
political work enmeshes in our daily lives, our lived
experience may include exposure to trauma and the pain of The 13th International AWID Forum plenary on ‘Co-
others; misunderstanding and even violence in our own Creating New Futures;’ firmly placed self-care and col-
lective care at the center of our attention. Created through
1
The Concept Paper is a living document (http://bit.ly/2hSkmwu, experimental methodologies by the Fearless Collective,
accessed on 17 December 2016). I am grateful to all the members of
this plenary invited us to imagine feminist futures through
the Wellbeing Advisory Group for the privilege to work aside you and
learn from you. The Concept Paper and our time together have all
enriched my mind, body and heart, and informed this piece, for which
I of course bear sole responsibility.
52 I. Michaeli

villages, because it takes a village to imagine and create reluctant to include well-being and self-care in their work
one.2 Laila Malik reports: plans and budgets. Funders are even more reluctant to
allocate funds needed for it.
In the village of love, joy and pleasure, Nidhi Goyal, a
Moreover, the momentum for self-care in feminist and
young disabled feminist who works for disability
social movements is shaded by its fashionable embrace by
rights and gender justice evoked a village in which
mainstream media and popular psychology in many coun-
members were connected with themselves, without
tries. Self-care is found in an abundance of self-love and self-
internalized stigma and pressures, corporatized media,
help books and programs, articles, and tip lists. This apparent
the medicalization of bodies or the gender binary. She
obsession with self-care brings about extensive critique from
revelled in the laughter and excitement of this village,
the Left and from feminists as well. Critics of neoliberalism
in which sex, sexuality and pleasure are openly dis-
rightly point out that dogmas of self-care, self-love, and self-
cussed, with complete and informed consent and
help focus solely on the individual, while obscuring the role
without judgement or shame, and where social, phys-
of society and structural sociopolitical reasons for pain and
ical, infrastructure and access to reproductive services
injustice (Rottenberg 2014; Penny 2016). Emotions are now
are available to all. At the same time, she spoke of
a commodity on the market, ‘the happiness industry’ (Davies
revolutionary relationships focused on self and col-
2015). The market is clearly interested in stressed and
lective care, and of open spaces shared with everyone,
overworked employees keeping on being productive with the
from the heart.3
help of some positive thinking, meditation, and breathing
These words resonated deeply with the audience, judging instead of organizing and unionizing to change their working
by the enthusiastic applause, so why are we still far from conditions or rally for public healthcare.5
incorporating these dreams and visions into our cultures of How are we to reconcile and make sense of these
activism? challenges and this critique as we keep time and again
The need to sustain feminist movements is more urgent coming back to Audre Lorde’s words: ‘Caring for myself is
than ever, given the political developments in our world. not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act
The rise of right-wing reactionary forces and fundamen- of political warfare’?
talisms; the impunity of war crimes and military violence;
the unbound power of corporations; and anti-environmental
politics all pose great risk not only to our feminist futures, What Makes Self-Care Neoliberal?
but endanger all past wins and achievements of women’s
rights, LGBTIQ rights, civil rights, and social justice I suggest that the neoliberal version of ‘self-care’ embraced
movements to date. In the face of shrinking civic spaces by the mainstream society is profoundly different from
and persecution of human rights defenders, energy and self-care and well-being as rooted in radical feminist
resilience are indispensable. There’s no doubt about it: thought and activism, and that these differences are
We’re in for a long ride. important to account for. We can then center feminist
Rationally, we understand that sustaining ourselves—as traditions and conceptualizations of self-care and collective
individuals and organizations—is critical to our success, care and well-being, and move the neoliberal frame aside,
our survival even. Yet there seem to be real obstacles to rather than allowing it to take over and monopolize our
transforming this understanding into a set of individual and discourses and imaginations.
institutional priorities, practices, and structures. Activists Neoliberalism is not intended as a buzzword here. I
testify how self-care can become a daunting task, another believe it can help us understand that the mainstream trend
slot in our busy calendars, one more source of potential for self-care and well-being is part of the current social,
stress and a new form of guilt.4 Organizations are still economic and political system. The French philosopher
Michel Foucault identified ‘care of the self’ as a technology
2
http://www.forum.awid.org/forum16/posts/imagining-feminist- of power, as early as 1976 (Foucault 1986). We can see this
future-plenary-three, accessed 16 December 2016.
3
perfectly well in how patriarchal power operates. So many
Fearless collective is a ‘fearless network of artists and activists
oppressive practices and misogynist ideas about female
reclaiming public and digital space through art and participative
storytelling’. Established following the Delhi Gang Rape in 2012, the
collective ‘dreams to create a global movement of public art that is Footnote 4 continued
inclusive, collaborative, and replaces fear with trust, empathy, and here: https://www.awid.org/news-and-analysis/webinar-summary-
curiosity.’ Read further and view their inspiring work online: http:// self-care-and-collective-wellbeing (accessed on 16 December 2016).
fearlesscollective.org (accessed 16 December 2016). 5
For example, Peter Fleming, The way to a better work-life balance?
4
This and other points came up during the Webinar on Self-Care and Unions, not self-help, Guardian 11 October 2016 (https://www.the
Collective Wellbeing co-hosted by AWID Forum’s Wellbeing Advi- guardian.com/careers/2016/oct/11/way-to-better-work-life-balance-
sory Group, and the Black Feminisms Forum. Read the highlights unions-not-self-help, accessed on 16 December 2016).
Self-Care: An Act of Political Warfare or a Neoliberal Trap? 53

beauty are forced on girls and women, violently policing Let us be cautious, but also let us not exaggerate their
our weight, looks, and body shape, under the guise of self- totalizing reach. Some forms of self-care, empowerment
care and ‘spoiling yourself,’ for the sake of our sexual and feminism, can be co-opted, but certainly not all, just
availability and attractiveness to men (Bartky 1988). Entire like breathing in itself isn’t neoliberal, of course. Breathing
industries of fashion, cosmetics, plastic surgeries, diets, and is life, and few practices are as powerful in creating inti-
advertising flourish and profit immensely from inducing macy and solidarity between individuals and groups as the
self-hate and inviting consumption as self-care. act of breathing together.
What else is wrong with self-care in its populistic
neoliberal configuration?
First, privatization of responsibility: One’s well-being What Makes Self-Care an Act of Political
perceived as her own responsibility, rather than the col- Warfare?
lective responsibility of society to create structures
enabling and facilitating one’s well-being. Our feminist legacies and conceptualisations of self-care and
Second, obscuring the social, economic and political well-being are anything but individualistic and depoliticized.
sources of physical, emotional, and spiritual distress and This is because they are rooted, I believe, in distinctively
exhaustion. These may include war and violence; poverty feminist analysis of the relationship between self and col-
and hunger; failed social policies, inadequate or inacces- lective, between personal and political. Women, queers,
sible health care, the pharma industry that out of sheer transgender, intersex, and gender non-conforming activists
greed lets people suffer and die; the double burden of and feminists have long been politicizing the ‘personal’: our
productive and reproductive labour on women; the global bodies, our sexualities, our family dynamics and relation-
economy that frees more privileged women from house- ships, our pain and our fears, our pleasures and our desires.
hold and childcare labour by shifting it on the backs of The personal has been a source of knowledge and radically
poorer women and women migrant workers, overwhelm- new theorizing about the political, a way of redefining what
ingly women of color from the Global South. These and the political is. Moreover, for decades feminists have politi-
countless other factors influence our life (and death) cized care work and reproductive labour, its gendered,
expectancy, health, and well-being. racialized, and class-based distribution in societies, colonial
Critically, our vulnerability and the care we can (or histories, and the global economy today.
cannot) expect from our families and societies, as well as We are not talking about a generic ‘self’ here, an
our social movements, are influenced by our gender, race, abstract individual, but about a self which is grounded in
ethnicity, class, sexuality, ability, and other identity particular political histories and present situations of vio-
markers of privilege. Long after Audre Lorde, Black lence and vulnerability. Self-care in a world that denies you
feminists still take the lead in politicizing self-care as a care means revolting against the unequal distribution of life
radical act for Black women and women of color.6 and death, health and illness, well-being and suffering, of
Third, its effects are deeply depoliticizing. If we are care-giving and receiving roles, as fixed by patriarchy,
frustrated, sad, or angry, we mustn’t act on it, get angry white supremacy, global capitalism, and other systems of
together, protest and organize for change. The mainstream domination and exploitation.
self-care discourse invites us instead to breath, meditate, At the well-being area of the AWID Forum, where group
and—if we can afford it—enjoy a day at the spa. and one-on-one activities were offered by practitioners free
Let us be cautious of such models. As feminists, we are of cost, it looked like this: Amazement at how a treatment
familiar with co-optation of our concepts, ideas, and feels, if it was the first time you ever experienced one;
practices. Similarly, in Taking the Power out of Empow- conversations about safe houses and retreats for activists;
erment, Srilatha Batliwala describes how empowerment, wanting to talk about stress, pain, and hurt; wanting to talk
originally understood by women’s movements as involving about and experience joy and pleasure; thanking the prac-
social and political shift in power relations locally and titioner with tears and hugs; moving your body in new ways,
globally, is now often reduced to individual experience discovering rhythms, imagination and force you weren’t
(Batliwala 2007). aware of; sharing love. I also learned new terms like
Capacitar, Jin Shin Jyutsu, TRE (Tension Stress Trauma
Release), Smai Tawi also known as Afrikan Yoga, and much
more. I hope you’ll get curious and look them up.7
6
See for example an interview by Sarah Mirk with Evette Dionne,
Audre Lorde thought of self-care as an ‘act of political warfare’
7
published on 18 February 2016 (https://bitchmedia.org/article/audre- CAPACITAR is an international network of practitioners teaching
lorde-thought-self-care-act-political-warfare, accessed on 16 Decem- simple holistic wellness practices https://capacitar.org. Jin Shin Jyutsu
ber 2016). physio-philosophy is an art of releasing tension and energypathways
54 I. Michaeli

In stark contrast to the neoliberal ‘happiness industry,’ work of looking after ourselves; looking after each
we are not speaking here of being happy and relaxed as the other.9
world around us crumbles into pieces, but the opposite.
Similarly, the experience of women activists in Chechnya
Lin Chew, feminist human rights activist, co-founder
reiterates the importance of self-care, when workout and
and Director of the Institute for Women’s Empowerment
meditation may seem like luxuries, but are in fact ‘essential
(IWE) focusing on transformative and sustainable feminist
components of sustained and effective social activism.
leadership, defines self-care in direct relation of mindful-
They help people to manage the accumulated stresses and
ness of the world:
strains of a life lived in constant danger.’10 But self-care is
‘Self-care is learning how to live our lives in a way not enough. Keely Tongate from the Urgent Action Fund
that we are mindful of how we are, knowing our- for Women’s Human Rights acknowledges the lack of self-
selves in a way that is holistic – how are we mentally, care resources and opportunities for activists (and their
physically, spiritually, in our relationships, in our unequal distribution among activists), and makes a strong
emotions. It is the understanding that the personal and case for collective communities of care:
the political are together. The personal has to be
We need strategies for collective sustainability that
mindful of the collective, and the collective has to be
make sense for activists and their communities. That
mindful of the individual’.8
doesn’t mean abandoning self-care, but it does mean
Aina-Nia Ayo’dele, feminist spiritual activist, founder and integrating it into broader cultures of community care
managing director of Sacred Women International (SWI), that can sustain more people in relationship to one
underlines the strong connection of inter-dependency another (see footnote 10).
between the self and the movement, particularly for
Thus, making self-care an act of political warfare (in its
women activists:
feminist sense, of course) involves historicizing and
‘As activists and women who lead, we often forget politicizing the ‘self’ and the ‘care,’ inevitably placing
ourselves. We take such good care of everyone else, them in context, thus bringing into the picture the
and the truth is, we cannot give fully to others from collective and the community. Grounding care in concrete
an empty cup. How do we create sustainability and local and global contexts also means that there is no one
resilience in our movement when we ourselves are answer to my question: What makes self-care an act of
not well, tired, burnt out? Self-care for me is the political warfare?
beginning of the movement’. What self-care is, what being well means to people and
specifically to activists, varies from one cultural context
From these critical positions, many roads lead from the self
and community to another, from one region to another.
to the community, and back to the self. In her own
These differences may go farther than we imagine. That
engagement with Audre Lorde’s words, the feminist
is, if we are willing to dig deep enough to find the answers
scholar Sara Ahmed states:
that are meaningful and relevant to us, our movements, and
Self-care: that can be an act of political warfare. In our communities. In the next and concluding section, let us
directing our care towards ourselves we are redi- see how such journeys may look in practice.
recting care away from its proper objects, we are not
caring for those we are supposed to care for; we are
not caring for the bodies deemed worth caring about. Decolonizing Wellness, Queering Self-Care
And that is why in queer, feminist and anti-racist
work self-care is about the creation of community, South American and African feminist models of care for
fragile communities, assembled out of the experi- survivors of violence, women human rights defenders and
ences of being shattered. We reassemble ourselves grassroots activists, challenge traditional Western and
through the ordinary, everyday and often painstaking medicalized conceptions of trauma. They pose the ques-
tions: What does it mean to be ‘well’ in the face of
9
Footnote 7 continued Ahmed, Sara. Selfcare as Warfare, feministkilljoys blog, published
in the body https://www.jsjinc.net. TRE: Tension Stress Trauma on 25 August 2014 (https://feministkilljoys.com/2014/08/25/selfcare-
Release is a series of exercises for releasing deep muscular patterns of as-warfare/, accessed on 16 December 2016).
stress https://traumaprevention.com/. 10
Keely Tongate, Women’s survival strategies in Chechnya: from
8
Webinar Summary: Self-Care and Collective Wellbeing, 3 Novem- self-care to caring for each other. openDemocracy, 29 August 2013
ber 2016. (https://www.awid.org/news-and-analysis/webinar-sum (https://www.opendemocracy.net/transformation/keely-tongate/women%
mary-self-care-and-collective-wellbeing, accessed on 19 December E2%80%99s-survival-strategies-in-chechnya-from-self-care-to-car
2016). ing-for-ea, accessed on 16 December 2016).
Self-Care: An Act of Political Warfare or a Neoliberal Trap? 55

injustice? How can safety be cultivated amidst conflict? theory can also prove useful in imagining a whole new
These questions and models touched and resonated with spectrum of self-care and coping mechanisms. In an
activists and practitioners from other regions as well, such interesting article entitled Queering Self-Care: Reimagin-
as Eastern Europe and Central Asia. ing the radical possibilities of self-care in healing from
Mpumi Zondi is the Clinical Director of Sophiatown sexual assault, Emily Dutton (2014) draws on queer theory
Community Psychological Services (SCPS), based in to articulate self-care beyond neoliberal models. She notes
Johannesburg, South Africa. In her presentation at the how self-care is often perceived as a narrow pre-defined
AWID Forum she shared their inspiring journey to become selection of activities, primarily directed at calming oneself
a community-centered psychosocial organization. SCPS is and appearing calm to others, creating a convincing illu-
also a founding member of AIR for Africa (African insti- sion of well-being. Moreover, healing is often understood
tute for integrated responses to violence against women & as a linear process toward the manifestation of ‘positive’
girls & HIV/Aids), sharing feminist transformative feelings, like joy and happiness, although it can in fact
approach to well-being and re-politicizing trauma work involve a whole range of human emotions and unpre-
together with other African feminist practitioners.11 dictable ways of coping:
This journey, tells Mpumi Zondi, involved questioning
Recognizing the fluidity of self-care also means
theories that might work in some predominantly Western
avoiding a hierarchical categorization of coping
contexts, but made less sense in their contexts, and required
techniques, and acknowledging that while self-care
learning anew from their clients and communities. One
might look like ‘‘lighting candles, putting on a Nina
example is the perception of trauma as a onetime event:
Simone album, and rereading The Animal Family, it
For us and the women we journey with this is not a could also mean BDSM, intense performance art,
reality. The historical trauma is not one off, and it mixed martial arts fighting, smashing bank windows
continues as they continue to live through extreme or calling out a person who abused you’’ (Traven 3).
poverty, exposure to HIV, war, forced displacement, Self-care might look calm, relaxed, and happy; or it
gender based violence, in other words multiple layers might look like deep depression, sadness, or failing to
of discrimination, oppression and exclusion. Theirs is function at all. (Dutton 2014)
not a story of ‘‘a one off sudden unexpected event’’ –
Queering self-care also involves a suggestion to go beyond
instead it is one [that] has been their continuously
binaries of healthy/unhealthy, positive/negative ways of
lived experience- in the past, the present, and the
coping, thereby opening radical possibilities of what being
anticipated future (Zondi 2016).
well can mean for you, in this time and place.
These stories cannot always be told in words; when this is I am completing this essay as I return from an unusual
too difficult, they can be told in pictures, symbols, arts, or activist meeting. We gathered to offer support to three
silence. women who endured negative and distorted media atten-
For SCPS, recognizing social, economic and political tion for an artistic project, a labour of love and creativity.
realities can manifest in different ways and practices: We also wanted to discuss strengthening our networks of
understanding material needs, poverty, and hunger, and support and solidarity. Having your work misrepresented in
offering sandwiches and tea to the clients before a session, the mainstream media, being misquoted in an article, even
providing transport money, helping to fill out an applica- having your name published despite guaranteed anonymity
tion, advocating for children of refugee clients to be are experiences familiar to many activists. This can be
accepted to schools. This also means challenging the stressful and in some cases dangerous, especially when you
conventional boundary between the client and the therapist, are singled out. And so I sat there, being hosted in a home
acknowledging that ‘the healer is wounded too,’ and that I’ve never been to before and tasting the most delicious
therapists don’t hold all the answers. home-baked bread. Taking this time to ask ‘how are you?’,
Mpumi Zondi said that ‘the art of healing belongs to sharing food and drinks and laughter, relieved some of the
ordinary people,’ expressing belief in the capacity of stress and exhaustion accumulated for weeks. Before you
people to support and heal each other. I sense that this know it, we were brainstorming ideas for future actions.
capacity has implications for our responsibility for each Activists, I thought to myself, well of course, what can you
other, for creating these communities of care in our life, expect?! Plotting can also be a form of care.
work, and activism. Ultimately, the momentum for self-care and well-being
As African feminist practitioners push us to go beyond in feminist movements is a precious opportunity to com-
Western and medicalized conceptions of self-care, queer prehend and experience what being well in this world
means for us, our communities and our societies. For many
11
http://airforafrica.org/, accessed on 19 December 2016. feminists, women human rights defenders, LGBTIQ
56 I. Michaeli

activists, self-care and collective care and wellbeing are not Batliwala, Srilatha. 2007. Taking the power out of empowerment—
the themes where we feel most comfortable. Many of us, An experiential account. Development in Practice 17(4–5):
557–565.
however, are already first-class experts in burnout, Chigudu, Hope, and Rudo Chigudu. 2015. Strategies for building an
exhaustion, stressful, and unsustainable cultures of acti- organisation with a soul. London: African Institute for Inte-
vism. We can change that by looking back to the knowl- grated Responses to VAWG & HIV/AIDS (AIR).
edges and practices of care and compassion passed in our Davies, William. 2015. The happiness industry: How the government
and big business sold us well-being. New York: Verso Books.
communities through generations, especially among Dutton, Emily. 2014. Queering self-care: Reimagining the radical
women. By looking around us, paying attention to our- possibilities of self-care in healing from sexual assault. Spaces
selves and each other, offering accountability for ourselves Between: An Undergraduate Feminist Journal, 2. https://
and each other. By taking a breath together. This journey journals.library.ualberta.ca/spacesbetween/index.php/spacesbetw
een/article/view/23267.
will be as feminist and as political as we make it. Foucault, Michel. 1986. The care of the self: The history of sexuality,
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Penny, Laurie. 2016. Life-Hacks of the Poor and Aimless: On
negotiating the false idols of neoliberal self-care. War on Nerves.
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