Postmodern perspectives on care: the vigil and the gift

Abstract

This paper explores the perspectives which postmodernism and post- structuralism bring to an understanding of care, particularly in the writings of Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, Hélène Cixous and Stephen White. It is suggested that care is paradoxical. On one hand it is a tech nology of surveillance which, as a consequence of the professionalisa tion of caring, constitutes the vigil. But although this technology is one of control and supplies the authority for profession care, it is also possible to recognise an alternative caring, which is about love, generosity, and a celebration of otherness. This gift of care seeks to enable the cared-for person, and resists the discourses of the vigil. The paper examines the issues raised for practitioners by this dual character of care.