Political Economy
and Care

How lovely that you are able to read this. That was made possible because you were born through (likely) unpaid labor by a woman and you were raised, dressed, fed, looked after and taught by people in differing relationship and labor constellations. Because you are able to drink water and breath air that planet earth has provided you for free. Because you are currently using a device capable of connecting to the internet that others produced for you.

All of that is care. Another word for it is economy. Inserting the relationship between care and economy into the public discourse is my work.

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Photo: Robert Bosch Stiftung, Anita Back

Feline-Tecklenburg_Foto-Robert-Bosch-Stiftung_Anita-Back_mobile_01

Photo: Robert Bosch Stiftung, Anita Back

Specifics

I’m a political economist for the social-ecological transformation with a focus on the nexus of economy and care (work).

As activist, co-founder and executive co-director of the post-patriarchal think-and-action-lab Wirtschaft ist Care [Economy is care], I get involved – by writing, connecting, advocating, instigating.

In my academic work, I engage with the manifold solutions and initiatives on future-oriented economies and the role of the care economy. I am currently conducting international research for my PhD in this field.

The diverse crises of our time require bold socio-political and economical transformations. The economy can only be bold and sustainable if caring for each other and the environment is centred at its core. To work toward such a future, I’m part of a worldwide movement for care-centred economies.

Studied political science, sociology, economics and gender studies at the Universities of Freiburg, Basel and Kassel and at the Hochschule für Gesellschaftsgestaltung [Applied science college for transformation of societies]

Board member of Swiss magazine Neue Wege. Religion Sozialismus Kritik. [New paths. Religion Socialism Critique.] [Learn more]

Member of the academic junior advisory board of publisher Verlag Barbara Budrich. [Learn more]

Member of the Commission on care-centred transition to equitable, low-consumption societies, a collective project of Hot or Cool Institute, SERI, Climate Outreach and Global Action Plan UK.

Previous activities: co-lead of the Seventh Swiss Women*s Synod Economy is Care; teaching assignments at the University of Freiburg (Institute for Political Theory, Institute for Sociology and Scandinavian Institute); co-lead of economic summer schools at agape centro ecumenico in Piedmonte, Italy; co-lead of the conference FürSorge NichtMärkte – Positionen einer feministischen Ökonomie [ForCare NotMarkets – Positions on feminist economics] with the Cusanus Studierendengemeinschaft e.V.; speaker of Nadyne Saint-Cast MP, B’90/Die Grünen; freelance collaborator at the Centre for Political Education Baden-Württemberg.

“Our [current] social system is sapping energies needed to tend to families, maintain households, sustain communities, nourish friendships, build political networks, and forge solidarities.”

Nancy Fraser. 2022. Cannibal Capitalism. London, New York: Verso.

„There is a need to reinvent ideas around care and care ethics and how care work and care services are valued in market and non-market spheres. Care needs to be at the centre of a new economic and social model.”

UNRISD Flagship Report. 2022. Crises of inequality: Shifting Power for a new eco-social contract. Geneva: UNRISD.

„Without care there is no economy. Covid brought this home, but lessons are slipping from our minds. The care economy is not just a sideshow in the search for a postgrowth world. It is the blueprint for it."

Tim Jackson, economist, 2023.

“Our [current] social system is sapping energies needed to tend to families, maintain households, sustain communities, nourish friendships, build political networks, and forge solidarities.”

Nancy Fraser. 2022. Cannibal Capitalism. London, New York: Verso.

UNRISD Flagship Report. 2022. Crises of inequality: Shifting Power for a new eco-social contract. Geneva: UNRISD.

Tim Jackson, economist, 2023.

Public

The care economy and concomitant care work usually remain invisible. Fortunately, the societal discourse on it is becoming increasingly more visible. Here is a selection of my contributions on the care economy as well as on other aspects of economy, work and democracy.

Publications

Uta Meier-Gräwe, Ina Praetorius, Feline Tecklenburg (editors). 2023. Wirtschaft neu ausrichten. Care-Initiativen in Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz. Opladen: Verlag Barbara Budrich. (in German) [Title translation: Re-organize the economy. Care-initiatives in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.] [Learn more]

Feline Tecklenburg. 2021. Pflicht, Verantwortung, Genuss!? Appell für ein lustvolles Sorgen in der politischen Philosophie. theorieblog.de (in German) [Title translation: Duty, responsibility, pleasure? Invoking pleasurable caring in political philosophy] [Learn more]

Feline Tecklenburg. 2021. Wirtschaft ist Care ist radikale Demokratie. In: Fehle, Hans Jörg und Andrea Langenbacher (Hrsg.). Dass die Welt wohnlich für alle wird. Klartexte, Anfragen, Perspektiven. Ina Praetorius zum 65. Geburtstag. Ostfildern: Matthias-Grünewald-Verlag. (in German) [Title translation: Economy is care is radical democracy] [Learn more]

Ina Praetorius, Feline Tecklenburg, Georges Zahno. 2021. Economy is care – (Not) a walk. For example in Sursee. Edited by the Seventh Swiss Women*s Synod. (in English) [Learn more]

Feline Tecklenburg. 2020. Wirtschaft ist Care ist Politik. Neue Wege, Jg. 114, Nr. 9, Zürich. (in German) [Title translation: Economy is care is politics] [Learn more]

Interviews

“Dissens” Podcast with Lukas Ondreka (Host) and Elisabeth Klatzer (fair sorgen!, Austria) on Care Economy, May 2023 (in German) [Learn more]

Interview with kath.ch on the World Economic Forum in Davos, January 2023 (in German) [Learn more]

Videos

Book launch of the anthology “Wirtschaft neu ausrichten. Care-Initiativen in Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz“ in Freiburg, Germany, in March 2023 (in German) [Learn more]

Commentary on the care crisis for the new Flagship Report 2022 of the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) 2022, Crises of Inequality. Shifting Power to a New Eco-Social Contract, in Berlin in January 2023 (in German) [Learn more]

Documentary by German filmmaker Sabine Jainski on „Leistung zum Nulltarif? Vom Wert der Sorge für andere“ (2021) [Title translation: Service without charge? On the value of caring for others] [Learn more]

Photo: Philip Wilson

Photo: Philip Wilson

Queries

You have a project that you’d like to implement with me? The social-ecological transformation can only work when we act together. Multiplication and public education are crucial.

I offer lectures and talks, workshops, interviews, moderation of topic-specific events, consulting, and articles.

Robert Bosch Stiftung; United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD); Equal Pay Day; Business and Professional Women Germany (BPW); University of Vienna; Thinktank Hot or Cool; Junge Arbeitsgemeinschaft bäuerliche Landwirtschaft; Grüne Jugend Hamburg; Bündnis 90/ Die Grünen, Landesverband Niedersachsen; Wellbeing Economy Alliance; Deutsche Gesellschaft für Hauswirtschaft e.V.; FRIBIS (Freiburg Institute for Basic Income Studies); 36x36 Association; Futur F e.V.

Get in touch: contact(at)felinetecklenburg.com

Political Economy and Care

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Political Economy
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