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32 - A Decolonial Feminist Perspective

Saving Ethics of Care from White Saviorism

from Part III - Emerging Ethical Pathways and Frameworks

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 March 2024

By
Yibing Quek
Edited by
Sheron Fraser-Burgess ,
Jessica Heybach  and
Dini Metro-Roland
Sheron Fraser-Burgess
Affiliation:
Ball State University, Indiana
Jessica Heybach
Affiliation:
Florida International University
Dini Metro-Roland
Affiliation:
Western Michigan University
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Summary

Drawing on the research of scholars from both within and outside the field of education, this chapter explores how care ethics can be conceived as permitting and even enabling white saviorism in the teaching context. The author appeals to perspectives offered by the scholarship of decolonial feminists to clarify the morally troubling nature of “care” when a teacher’s care contributes to devalorizing the cultural wealth, history, knowledge systems, and ways of being of minoritized and marginalized students. However, convinced that care ethics still confers invaluable moral worth on the teaching practice, the author highlights the effort of scholars from the traditions of critical race theory in prescribing “critical care” as a teaching praxis.

Keywords

care ethicsdecolonial feminismcritical carewhite saviorismethics of teaching
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Ethics and Education , pp. 676 - 692
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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