A Review of Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha’s Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice (Arsenal Pulp)

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A Review of Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha’s Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice (Arsenal Pulp, 2018)
By Stephen Hong Sohn

So I read Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha’s Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice (Arsenal Pulp, 2018) not long after I read two other creative nonfictional works (those were Anuradha Bhagwati’s stunning Unbecoming and T Kira Madden’s equally stunning Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls). These three works seem to resonate alongside each other in their exploration of issues related to marginalization, women’s subjectivities, and the need for strong communities that exist often beyond or beside the heteronuclear family.

Piepzna-Samarasinha’s Care Work reads as a hybrid work of memoir, essays, and academic inquiries into the conception and the deployment of carework not only for disability-based communities but also for “able” allies, for lack of better terminology. One of the most striking aspects of this collection comes from the conception of “mutual aid,” which is perhaps one foundational characteristic of “disability justice.” For people to create cohesive and lasting communities founded upon collective carework, there must be “mutual aid,” a sense that one individual does not necessarily benefit more than the other in the process of supporting someone else.

Piepzna-Samarasinha distinguishes “mutual aid” from “charity” or even something like a “gift economy,” which may presuppose some sort of power dynamic between the carer and the caree. In this case, everyone is supposed to be caring for each other in a dynamic form of equilibrium. One of the most intriguing sections of Piepzna-Samarasinha’s work appears when it explores the concept of what an ally can do to support “disability justice” paradigms and projects. One such example comes when Elisha Lim (who I know as a graphic novelist) decided to boycott any party or event that did not provide proper access for the disabled. This boycott necessarily created controversy because many institutions and organizations who needed the support of the QTBIPOC (queer trans black indigenous people of color) community stated that they could not always guarantee equal access given their limited funds and resources. But, as Piepzna-Samarasinha makes clear, such rationale ultimately fails to engage and to cultivate a stronger, more inclusive form of activism, the root of what is needed for “disability justice” to take flight not only for those who identify as within the community but also from those without. This collection also makes clear that whatever minor capital comes with marginal identities, this form of difference can be usurped and even commandeered for other causes. In this sense, Piepzna-Samarasinha’s collection makes it evident that ally-ship requires a deep vigilance that properly acknowledges the need for collective care and collective access.

From a more personal perspective, this set of essays made me think about what constitutes academic or scholarly writing. At some point, Piepzna-Samarasinha identifies her voice as one that is not necessarily academic, but I couldn’t help but thinking why not? Care Work provides a conceptual apparatus and a practical set of guidelines for understanding what disability justice is and what it can be when properly mobilized. In this sense, the work is both applicable and rigorous and certainly should be cited in the future for anyone seeking to make an intervention into disability studies, activism, and its intersections with other forms of social difference! An important, socially conscious work of deep thinking and activist praxis! As per usual, Arsenal Pulp is at the forefront of publishing innovative work from minority communities; it’s certainly one of my favorite presses out there. Piepzna-Samarasinha also shares that Care Work was rejected by numerous publishers, and it was finally Arsenal Pulp that came to the rescue. I am not surprised in the slightest that the press saw what is an essential, groundbreaking, and visionary work.

Buy the Book Here!

Review Author: Stephen Hong Sohn
Review Editor: Gnei Soraya Zarook

If you have any questions or want us to consider your book for review, please don’t hesitate to contact us via email!
Prof. Stephen Hong Sohn at ssohnucr@gmail.com
Gnei Soraya Zarook, PhD Student in English, at gzaro001@ucr.edu