The Ethics of Care, Black Women and the Social Professions: Implications of a New Analysis

Abstract

In recent years a growing body of literature on the ethics of care has made significant contributions to understanding the multiple dimensions of care. Feminist theories provide the resource for this interdisciplinary research in which there has been scant attention given to black women's approaches to moral deliberations and understandings of care. Although there are differing interests and diversity among black women, this article seeks to disrupt current frameworks surrounding the ethics of care and discusses a more relevant conceptual framework to bring diverse perspectives to bear in the current wave of interest in caring. By applying black feminist thought to the complexities of black womanhood in the broader society, this paper considers cultural antecedents and lived experiences as a starting point for ethical concerns in reclaiming the everyday world as self-defined by black women themselves to open up new insights into care and its multiple dimensions.

Keywords:

• Black Women
• Ethics of Care
• Social Empowerment
• Care Work

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Mekada Graham

Mekada Graham PhD is an Associate Professor in the School of Social Work at the University of Oklahoma