Call for Proposals: Symposium on Carelessness

Care is part of everyday life. It takes place in informal settings (such as checking on a neighbour, supporting a family member, sharing knowledge, or taking responsibility within a community), as well as in institutionalised settings of health, social care, welfare, policy, and research. This symposium starts from care as something people do, and asks what becomes visible when care is uneven, neglected, or actively withheld across a range of different contexts. 

Feminist, postcolonial, and comparative philosophy scholars have long framed care as a relational process - neither singular nor linear, but shaping, and shaped by, a myriad of other relations. Against the backdrop of intensifying discursive and material structures of inequality – reflected in populist polemics, neoconservative resurgences and necropolitical practices, it is relations of carelessness that demand, now more than ever, attention. A focus on carelessness engenders crucial questions: What does it mean to care about people– especially the most precarious ones? Which people become the casualties of care or carelessness? Who has the right to tell such stories, and on whose behalf? How do care and carelessness intersect with violence, harm, (in)visibility or (in)equality?

Departing from these considerations, we invite contributions to a transdisciplinary event exploring the notion of carelessness. The event, based at Utrecht University, will bring together academics, stakeholders, and practitioners, fostering dialogue across disciplines, epistemologies, and perspectives. We aim to create a constructive dialogue between academics, stakeholders, and practitioners to enable longstanding connections and collaborations for future research and (policy) impact. We are interested in care/carelessness in the broadest sense – from helping and supporting the community, friends, and family to institutional, formal, health and social forms of care. 

We welcome proposals that critically engage with carelessness from a range of perspectives (i.e. a conceptual field, a methodological conundrum or an institutional practice), including but not limited to:

• Creative, experimental, or participatory approaches to exploring care and countering carelessness
• Perspectives from stakeholders, participants, or community members
• Care and positionality in research ethics
• Academic engagement with care/carelessness

Rather than providing predefined topics, we highly encourage open, exploratory, and transdisciplinary proposals. The event emphasizes co-creation of knowledge, collective engagement, dialogue, and inclusivity. We aim for this symposium to be participant-led; therefore the submissions will determine the themes/topics of the day. We aim to create a non-academic output from the symposium, which will be discussed during the day. 

Submission Guidelines

We invite a range of formats:

• Oral presentations & panel discussions
• Documentary/short film, photography or other visual work
• Collaborative or participatory sessions with stakeholders

We welcome contributions from anyone engaged with care/lessness including: (early-career) academics, practitioners, organizational stakeholders, artists, filmmakers, and creative researchers. Please submit a title and abstract (250–300 words) describing your proposed contribution and a short biographical note (approx. 100 words).