A Critical Ethics of Care Perspective on Refugee Income Generation

Towards Sustainable Policy and Practice in Zimbabwe’s Tongogara Camp

Datos Bibliográficos

ID12901986
AutoresRaymond Taruvinga (0000-0003-3196-2475, University of Pretoria, autor de correspondencia), Dorothee Hölscher (0000-0002-8989-7269, Griffith University), Antoinette Lombard (0000-0003-1380-2435, University of Pretoria)
Año2021
Volumen15
Número1
Páginas36-51
Fecha de publicación2021-01-02
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaEthics and Social Welfare (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1749-6535 • E-ISSN: 1749-6543
EditorialTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/17496535.2021.1877766
OpenAlexW3132484827
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas6
Referencias citadas18

This article critiques Zimbabwe's refugee policy and practice context, with a focus on the ideological underpinnings of aided income generation activities in Zimbabwe's Tongogara refugee camp. We apply the lenses of Joan Tronto's political, or democratic ethics of care, and Fiona Robinson's critical ethics of care, to conduct an ideology critique of the aid agencies' expressed goal of refugees' economic ‘self-reliance’. We demonstrate that their underlying assumptions about ‘dependency’ and ‘autonomy’, in conjunction with Zimbabwe's policy of refugee encampment, are at the heart of the income generation activities’ lack of sustainability. We argue further that all caring relationships are characterised by unequal power relations, and that this needs to be acknowledged in order to enable a shared commitment to equal participation, in a partnership towards agreed-upon development goals. Moreover, the ideologies of autonomy and self-reliance must be replaced with a policy commitment to fostering interdependence as the ontological condition under which income generating activities can evolve into sustainable livelihoods. We recommend that the critical ethics of care and the radical-democratic practices for which it calls, provide an apt framework within which to reconsider the policies governing refugee support and practices, so as to foster a caring context for human wellbeing

Autonomy · Context (archaeology · Democracy · Economic growth · Economics · Ideology · Political science · Politics · Refugee · Sociology · Homelessness and Social Issues · Law · Poverty, Education, and Child Welfare · Public Administration · Religion, Society, and Development