Feeding, Solidarity, and Care: The Grassroots Experiences of Latin American Soup Kitchens in a Global Pandemic Chapter in Scopus uri icon

abstract

  • © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.This essay analyzes the importance of the ethics of care in the conception of citizenship apropos the COVID-19 pandemic in Latin America. We state that the pandemic has made evident the urgent necessity to restore the city¿s collectivistic social imagination as a locus for solidarity, social interactivity, and empathy, contrary to prevailing utilitarian dynamics produced by neoliberalism. Accordingly, we discuss the resurgence of soup kitchens as exemplary initiatives to promote the construction of citizenship based on kindness, reciprocity, and compassion. First, we posit a critical discussion of collective action and participatory publics to review the notions of care, otherness, and emotions. We consider these three concepts as quintessential to challenge dominant instrumentality in Latin American policies. In the second part, we review grassroots soup kitchen initiatives in Latin America, emphasizing the importance of creating social capital through intervening in the city and community resilience. We conclude by saying that citizenship and ethics of care must not be separate concepts but an integral part of one another. It may also be a strategy for agency formation in public spaces by considering care as a key civic participation element.

publication date

  • January 1, 2021