Who we are
CaSt denotes a network of anthropologists interested in the relational co-constitution of care and the state. Starting from a small team in Vienna, we have expanded to a decentralised network of independent scholars convinced that bringing these fields together engenders innovative insights, important not only for academics but also diverse fields of policy development.
Care and State
The acronym CaSt stands for Care and State. The group members’ research is characterised by a relational approach to the state and an interest in the (re-)production of significant relations and difference through care. Care is thus seen as central for political subjectivities, belonging and the reproduction of the state at different layers. Covering diverse fields, the individual projects have in common that they centre around interfaces between the private and public spheres. One focus is the performativity of welfare practices and their impact on the reproduction of social marginalisation based on constructions of cultural difference within institutions like public childcare or senior citizen welfare. A second focus consists of the reproduction and reconfiguration of political subjectivities in boundary work through care. That includes a perspective on the co-production of kinship and state as separate units as well as research on care for the environment or regional economy. In both instances translations of globally circulating ideas and practices of care are central.