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Short abstract:

In this study we explore caring practices amidst developing crises. We highlight the importance of interacting caring practices during crises, argue that such interactions cut through different layers and domains in healthcare and governance, and show that affectivities play a key role therein.

Long abstract:

Decision-making during crises is often described as a form of enacted sense-making. Considering the mindful aspects of decision-making during unexpected events, however, this perspective tends to leave more affective dimensions of governing health systems during crises implicit. Hence, in this paper we explore caring in different domains of healthcare and governance during an unfolding crisis, focusing on interactions between caring practices and affective dimensions of crisis governance.

We take as our ethnographic case-study the major 2021 flooding events in Dutch Limburg. We observed and interviewed actors in health care, crisis management and water management domains in Limburg, as well as citizens in the region. Moving back and forth between data and theory we zoomed-in on affectivities of caring and the interactions of caring practices in between these domains.

Whilst dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, regional healthcare organizations were suddenly exposed to (potential) consequences of flooding. Patients in several facilities, including a hospital, were evacuated. Professionals in different domains had to work together to deal with the uncertainties and the threats high-water levels posed to vulnerable people and the exposed river surroundings. In our analysis we stress that, even two years after the flooding-events in Limburg, specialists concerned with modelling the floods, advisors responsible for sharing knowledge on levee strengths, crisis managers who had to decide on evacuating citizens, or health care managers who had to care for their patients show that affectivities play a key role in their caring practices.

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Short abstract:

During the global pandemic, the conceptualization of cleanliness changed. Building on initial empirical research into the professional landscape of cleaning, this paper delves into the experiences and viewpoints of stakeholders within the cleaning industry amid the pandemic's zenith in Germany.

Long abstract:

In the context of the global Covid-19 pandemic, the conceptualization of cleanliness underwent a significant transformation, becoming a paramount concern. This newfound emphasis on hygiene, framed as a measure of safety from viral threats, cast cleaning work into the spotlight as a vital, albeit often overlooked, component of daily life. In Germany, the critical role of cleaning was officially recognized, categorizing cleaning workers as 'essential'. Despite this classification, the visibility and acknowledgment for cleaning work remained minimal, underscoring a persistent undervaluation. Cleaning work, embedded within the broader spectrum of care and domestic labor, is marked by feminization, precarity, and marginalization, with a high representation of migrant workers.

Building on initial empirical research into the diverse professional landscape of cleaning, this paper delves into the experiences and viewpoints of stakeholders within the cleaning industry amid the pandemic's zenith in Germany. This exploration reveals that cleaning encompasses more than the mere removal of dirt and pathogens; it often embodies a caring and interpersonal dimension. Cleaners were confronted with the dual challenge of safeguarding their own health while acting as protectors against the virus for others, positioning their bodies as both potential vectors and barriers to disease transmission.

The focus of my analysis is on the emergent transformations, vulnerabilities, and dependencies within a crisis that has exacerbated the precarity faced by many actors of the cleaning Industry, which also profoundly influenced the management of spaces, the unseen forces within these environments (e.g., viruses) and the personal safety and health of individuals.

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Short abstract:

The governance of environmental crises as states of exception further spoils an already stigmatised terrestrial. Through ethnography, I provide an alternative horizon of dark infrastructures of care that feature interdependencies and a precarious autonomy through the affective labor of volunteers.

Long abstract:

Environmental disasters and climate crises have been construed as exceptional events that require a governance of surveillance and control. Such practices of exception governance further stigmatise terrestrial territories that do not necessarily adhere to hegemonic ways of living. Embracing the (arti)fact that the climate calamity cannot so much be undone as that it requires a reactivation of common forms of living, I draw on feminist scholars in STS to provide an alternative horizon of, what I call, dark infrastructures. In my talk, I relay experiences and stories from my ethnographic field work in Rotterdam South. These stories show experiential and often conflictual interdependencies that nevertheless engender common matters of care. I discuss the materially constrained places in these stories as dark infrastructures of care: they provide a precarious autonomy built on affective volunteer labour.

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Short abstract:

The paper examines the datafication of environmental issues in biodiversity politics in the EU and air pollution prevention in Poland. It explores the practical handling and valuation of data as two aspects of datafied care, shaping environmental emergencies in Western/Eastern European contexts.

Long abstract:

The paper aims to illustrate how the process of strategic datafication of environmental issues (Nadim 2021) becomes a matter of care in two qualitatively studied empirical contexts: biodiversity politics in European Union countries and air pollution prevention politics in Poland. In both cases, care for data – their quality and significance – as well as for datafication technologies, influences the possibilities of constructing environmental emergencies by referring to bird species mass extinction in Europe, and threats to public health associated with air pollution in Poland (Latour 2018).

In the paper, I will focus on the duality of datafied care (Lindén, Lydahl 2021), as on the one hand, it involves the practical use of available datasets by actors participating in strategic datafication (e.g., public institutions, scientists, and activists) (Loukissas 2019; Mol et al. 2010), and on the other hand, on how these datasets are valued by participating actors in the process of determining their usefulness for creating environmental emergencies and influencing the affected publics (Marres 2015; Ślosarski 2024). The practical use of data and situated ways of valuation determine the enacting of a touching vision of air pollution and biodiversity loss (de la Bellacasa 2017), which then shapes political actions and influences how specific data publics perceive the place and associated emotions. Comparing both cases also allows us to grasp the differences between datafication in Western and Eastern European countries (Milan, Treré 2019), highlighting the importance and role of connections between scientists and citizen movements (Kinchy, Kimura 2019).