Cover of Careful Thinking

Careful Thinking

Careful Thinking

By: Martin Robb
Listen for free

Season's Savings | 0.99 €/month for 3 months

5.99 €/month thereafter - terms apply. Cancel monthly.
At some point in our lives, we will all have the experience of caring for another person - or of being cared for ourselves. But what exactly is ‘care’, and what do we mean by ‘good’ care? How do our beliefs, identities, and the social, cultural and political contexts in which we live, shape our experience of caring or being cared for? And how can ideas, theories, and the findings from research, help us to think more care-fully – and to care more thoughtfully? Careful Thinking explores these and similar questions, inspired by a belief that thinking critically about care can both deepen our understanding and improve the everyday practice of care. In each episode of the podcast, you'll hear an in-depth conversation with a researcher, writer or practitioner at the cutting edge of current thinking about care. If you would like to give us your feedback, or suggest a guest or a topic for a future episode, you can get in touch at carefulthinkingpodcast@gmail.com. And you can leave comments on episodes and join in the discussion at https://carefulthinking.substack.com.Copyright 2026 Martin Robb Science Social Sciences
Episodes
  • Care on film - with Chris Godwin

    Care on film - with Chris Godwin
    19 Oct 2026
    What insights can film provide into the experience of giving and receiving care? How do film dramas use storytelling to create emotional connection? Why is it important to involve people with lived experience in the development of films about care? And in what ways can film help to transform care practice?These are some of the questions we explore in this episode, with Chris Godwin. Chris is the founder and creative director of Inner Eye Productions, which specialises in using the power of empathy in film drama to engage professionals and communities to bring about meaningful change. His pioneering approach to filmmaking sets out to tackle some of the most pressing health and social issues faced by society today - from domestic abuse and child sexual abuse to violence and aggression against staff in the UK National Health Service. Chris' films about issues such as mental health, bereavement and end-of-life care offer profound insights into the processes of giving and receiving care, in ways that complement and bring to life the perceptions of care theory and the findings of academic research.We discuss the following topics in this episode:Chris' journey to working in film, his experience in broadcasting and getting started as an independent filmmaker, and the impact of 'Barbara's Story', his first film about care (03:29)The process of developing new ideas for films (12.11)Some of the common themes in Chris' diverse portfolio of films about care (16:45)Chris' films focusing on mental health issues (20:19)Making films about bereavement and loss(24:29)Working with children and young people in filmmaking (29:18)Developing films about dementia and end-of-life care (35:53)Films commissioned by the NHS as part of staff development (41:09)Making a co-produced film about autistic people's experience of hospitals (45:40)The strengths and limitations of film in conveying the day-to-day realities of care (51:05)Chris' current work and his plans for the future (53:25)Links to some of the films discussed in the episode'Barbara's Story''Invisible''Deafening Silence''Say My Baby's Name''Beyond Baby Blue''Timekeeper''Red''Tina''Sensory'People mentioned in the episodeSharin BaldwinEileen SillsVictoria BatesChristine Leroy (and see Episode 7)James Thompson (and see Episode 11)Organisations mentioned in the episodeSands (UK Stillbirth and Neonatal Death Society)Abigail's FootstepsInstitute of Health Visiting
    Show more Show less
    58 min
  • Organising with care - with Emmanouela Mandalaki

    Organising with care - with Emmanouela Mandalaki
    1 Sep 2026
    What would it mean for organisations to take account of shared embodied vulnerability? In what ways do experiences of bodily fragility remind us of our need for care? And how can working collaboratively address the absence of care in higher education?These are some of the questions we explore in this episode, with Emmanouela Mandalaki. Emmanouela is Professor of Organisations at NEOMA Business School in Paris, France. In her research, Emmanouela engages with critical feminist theories, methodologies, writing patterns and epistemologies to explore alternative ways of exploring questions of embodiment, ethics, gender diversity, inclusion, social inequalities and affect in organisations. In this process, care ethics foregrounds much of her work. Emmanouela is a prolific writer whose work has appeared in many leading journals and edited collections. During her pre-academic and academic career, Emmanouela has worked in both for profit and not for profit international organisations in many countries, in the process acquiring a diverse range of social experiences that have fed into her academic research.We discuss the following topics in this episode:How Emmanouela's early experiences led to the work she is doing now (02:50)The aim and focus of Emmanouela's academic research (08:15)The theorists who have influenced Emmanouela's work (09:45)Emmanouela's introduction to feminist writing on organisations and care (11:50)Researching grassroots solidarity organising in the wake of the refugee crisis in Greece (14:10)Reflecting on a personal experience of bodily fragility and vulnerability (23:38)Critiquing an absence of care in higher education (28:12)On collaborative working and writing (32:12)Reading and writing together as a relational healing process (33:30)Poetry as a form of academic writing and a practice of care (38:47)Emmanouela's current work and plans for further research and writing (44:18)Some of the writers, thinkers and researchers mentioned in the episodeRosalyn DiproseJudith ButlerBracha EttingerMaurice Hamington (see Episode 6)Alison PullenCarl RhodesMarianna FotakiNancy HardingErinn GilsonAlessia ContuEmma BellSara AhmedHélène CixousPublications by Emmanouela discussed in the episode'A Feminist Ethics of Care for the Embodied Organizing of Solidarity: Lessons from the Refugee Crisis in Greece' (2025)'Breaking the plaster: making do with the fragility of the body' (2023)'Co-constructing new ways of working: relationality and care in post-pandemic academia' (2022)'The word/world is out: You are not alone: Toward a healing organizational autoethnography in/through feminist reading and writing' (2024)Poetry and Organizing: Perspectives on the Use and Value of Poetry in Organization Studies (2025)'Poetry as reflexive landscapes of inclusive potential' (2025)'Organizational poetry as an embodied feminist practice' (2025)'Breaking words and silences' (2025)Other publications referred to in the episodeTorkild Thanem and David Knights, Embodied Research Methods (2019)Maurice Hamington and Ce Rosenow, Care Ethics and Poetry (2019)Other links4.1 Miles (documentary)HydrofeminismYou can download a transcript of this episode by following this link to the Careful Thinking Substack newsletter.
    Show more Show less
    49 min
  • Disability, dependency, and care - with Eva Feder Kittay

    Disability, dependency, and care - with Eva Feder Kittay
    1 Jul 2026
    How can we ensure that the drive for gender equality acknowledges relationships of dependency and care? What kinds of social policies are needed to ensure that caregivers are properly supported and cared for? What can the experiences of people with disabilities teach us about what constitutes a 'good' life? And is it possible to achieve a balance between autonomy, dependency, and care?These are some of the questions we explore in this episode with Eva Feder Kittay, one of the pioneering voices in feminist care ethics and in the emergent field of the philosophy of disability. Eva is Distinguished Professor Emerita of Philosophy at Stony Brook University in New York State, where she taught for many years. She received her bachelor's degree from Sarah Lawrence College in 1967 and went on to receive her doctoral degree from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York in 1978.Eva has published numerous articles on the philosophy of language, feminist philosophy, and disability studies, and her work has garnered several honours and prizes. In 1999, Eva published Love's Labor: Essays on Women and Equality, a groundbreaking work in feminist philosophy, which has become one of the foundational texts of care ethics. Eva's work has been shaped in part by her experience as the mother of Sesha, a woman with significant disabilities, and in 2019 she published her book Learning From My Daughter: The Value and Care of Disabled Minds, which was the winner of the 2020 Prose Award for Excellence in Philosophy and which has recently been issued in paperback.We discuss the following topics in this episode:Eva's background as the child of Holocaust survivors, growing up in America in the 1950s and 1960s, and the roots of her vocation as a philosopher (02:37)Eva's introduction to feminism and political activism (05:30)The story behind Love's Labor (07:55)The 'dependency critique' of equality (18:10)The caregiver as 'dependency worker' (20:28)De-gendering care (22:52)'Some mother's child': caring for caregivers (27:18)'Connection-based equality', 'nested dependencies', and doulia (30:09)The limited role of the state in supporting care and the value of 'caring communities' (33:33)How Eva's relationship with her daughter Sesha has shaped her thinking - and the origins of Learning from My Daughter (37:28)Combining the personal and the philosophical in the writing process (39:47)Challenging conventional notions of what constitutes a 'good' life (42:42)Reproductive choice in the context of disability (46:03)Independence, dependency, and care ethics (49:30)The reception and completion of care (52:18)Bodily integrity and the body as a window on the soul (56:13)Eva's plan for a follow-up book on personhood and disability (59:00)Some of the publications discussed in the episodeSimone de Beauvoir, The Second SexSara Ruddick, Maternal Thinking: Towards a Politics of PeaceEva Feder Kittay and Diana T. Myers, Women and Moral TheorySarah Blaffer Hrdy, Father Time: A Natural History of Men and BabiesOther writers and thinkers mentioned in the episodeCarol GilliganJohn RawlsMartha NussbaumSusan J. BrisonYou can download a transcript of this episode by following this link to the Careful Thinking Substack newsletter.
    Show more Show less
    1 hr and 2 min
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1
No reviews yet