Praxes of Care: Action | Arriscraft Speaker Series Winter 2022

In Honour of Andrew Levitt, celebrating the legacy of a Professor Emeritus dedicated to teaching on care, and with care.

Horizontal pedagogies: in practice
January 27th, 6:00pm 
Jess Meyers & Keri Monaghan
Moderated by Reza Nik
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Horizontal pedagogies: nurturing culture
March 3rd, 6:00pm
Jelisa Blumberg & Curry Hackett
Moderated by Ozayr Saloojee & Jaliya Fonseka
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"Etuaptmumk": two-eyed seeing and design
March 10th, 6:00pm
Dr. Albert Marshall & Richard Kroeker
Moderated by John McMinn
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Horizontal pedagogies: in classrooms
March 17th, 6:00pm
Anna María León & Pelin Tan
Moderated by Paniz Moayeri
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Living with water
March 24th, 8:00pm 
Kongjian Yu & Alpa Nawre
Moderated by Jane Mah Hutton
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Praxes of Care asks, "what is an architecture of care?" Over four terms–Fall 2021 to Winter 2023–a series of conversations will bring together two or more architects, designers, researchers, artists, activists, and care workers to discuss care processes according to the themes of Attention, Action, Communication, and Maintenance. The series is curated by faculty, staff, and representatives of student groups: Treaty Lands Global Stories, Bridge, and the Sustainability Collective. Recent calls for change have shifted the discipline toward the underlying social and ecological processes enabled by the production of architecture. By listening to and learning about care practices from interdisciplinary perspectives, we can begin to reshape the discipline of architecture into a form of care.

WINTER 2022: ACTION

In our ongoing Speaker Series, this semester we investigate action within a praxis of care.

In taking action within care practice, we first take on responsibility. To act in care also requires additional factors that care theorists Joan Tronto and Bernice Fisher identify as time, material resources, knowledge, and skill. We might also add emotional and physical energy to this list. As a praxis, care is the manifestation of theory through embodied practice. We, as architects, are in a powerful position to care for and with people through our practices of placemaking. Architects and designers have an explicit obligation to their publics to take on the responsibility and enactment of care work.

In the action of care, the carer often has power over the cared-for. Care work, therefore, lives within power imbalance. Western technoscience theorists Aryn Martin, Natasha Myers, and Ana Viseu reflect on how critical care practices must be “committed to an intersectional feminism that can grapple with the constellations of power manifest in concatenations of capitalism, colonialism, race, class, ability and gender.” As architects working within a position of power, we must practice care-fully.

Accessibility: Waterloo Architecture is committed to achieving accessibility for persons with disabilities who are attending the event. Closed Captioning will be available during the live event. For accommodation questions and requests, please contact us in advance of the event.