keo

for my personal experiences with self-care, they come mainly from my experience with my mental health.
i have struggled with depression since i was 16 years old and at 19 years old, i developed an eating disorder, which i thankfully have much more control over now, so a lot of my first contact with “self-care” came from looking for solutions to my mental health issues.

what i noticed along this journey was how the self-care that is suggested to many of us nowadays is through consumerism - exactly like the “treat yourself” mentality.
i am not against indulgence but i do think that when self-care is packaged in this box buying your way to taking care of yourself, it isnt real. like for example “buy this planner for €10 to stay organized and cure your anxiety” or “buy this €25 book about how to live your best life” etc.
i think it becomes harmful.
especially when it’s money related because then self-care isn’t accessible to those who can’t afford it and that’s not even talking about paying for therapy.
capitalism and consumerism has seen this “self-care” movement as a trend and in my opinion is taking the opportunity to make money from it.

i really do think self-care is very important but i think there should be just as much focus on what is making people need self-care.
there are a lot of systems in place that make people struggle and they need to be examined more.

Counter-Cartographies

a counter-map is used to trace out complex systems, networks, conflicts, borders and situations which were previously invisible.
also used to share techniques, new technologies and produce autonomous knowledge.
they normally do not follow the objectives of corporations, military and governmental interests.
counter-mapping can also be a form of art activism that goes against the dominant powers.

maps are not neutral in the making of them nor the use of them.
capitalism and colonization are two of many big forces that have made/used maps to implement their own order in the world.

Decolonization as Care

- praxis = practice or custom
- “Once we allow our work to breathe, to reflect, to sense difference, it transforms structures around it or structures created through it.”
- “There are intricate processes that situate us between theory and practice as praxis..” - are the processes spoken about here the system (white supremacy, colonization, etc.)?

- intersectionality = “takes into account systems of oppression within the world that hold marginalized people in place in multiple ways”
place holding happens in different ways at different times and for different reasons.
your privilege informs your practices or customs [praxis]
intersectionality can be defined by levels of access to privilege
care is an important part of seeing the differences

- there is a paradox between defining someone’s identity as it does not stay the same.
- ability to understand ourselves = ability to understand the real, tangible and sensory aspect of moving through the world
- seeing the systems of power and where you stand within them is important and can be used as a tool
- these systems impact our bodies and work

- to re-conceptualize any practice > see yourself as radically different, as not part of the system
- “The disjuncture, cognitive dissonance, and alienation between what I experienced as body and what I represented was unaccounted for: the tools (i.e. crayons) and the representation could not align unless I let go of wanting to see myself represented in that image.”
- it is important for us to think about how we might make sense of the many different ways we could imagine past bodies, othered bodies, or any body that is not a normative privileged body.

- decolonization = an approach that has to do with how the world has been constructed in a manner that has very specific powers in play, utilizing very specific notions of what modernity and coloniality may mean within a capitalist (and now late capitalist) framework.
- if we don’t decolonize aesthetics, pedagogy, or
archaeology, the systems by which we are taught on how to research continue to reinstate older, oppressive, racist, chauvinist, patriarchal models of being: that gets coded into all of us and we continue to replicate it.

Pluriversal Politics by Arturo Escobar

page 13, paragraph ‘To fully research…’
“the proposition of other possible reals”
implying that there is not only one real
“knowing-doing-being”
he is making one word, implying a kind of shifting, that these things are connected but also always shifting and changing
“we have to approach the spaces that might reveal the existence of other worlds”
implying the existence of other realities are possible, realities besides the knowledge we already have
“as the sort of subjects”
people that are not always conscious, kingdom and it’s subjects, we also self-constituted the real - peoples lives and beings are conditioned by this power
the practices that constitute our modern life today
the enlightenment is very within our realities (religion, scientific truth/methods, individualism)
a shift is happening where in europe the knowledge is changing from religious to scientific > a hierarchy is created as well
for things to become visible today it has to pass through the western media
indigineous thinking is really important as it has a much longer history of knowledge but it’s made to be dismissed because of the western ideology
a lot of histories do not transmit their knowledge in written form, which is also a written
“considering it thoroughly might lead us into territories where we would often have to question some of our deepest certainties.”
it could or might be very hard to acknowledge that we could be wrong
“a nod to both the conceptual and intuitive, the abstract and the emotional”
he is acknowledging that these things exists
putting the two against each other is showing almost binaries that are already within our knowledge (not new)

page 14, paragraph ‘The difference between…’
“generative flux”
a process that is constantly changing / or it can change
“an unformed but generative flux of forces..”
what moderns reduce to a specific realities actually comes from a constantly shifting process
“the moderns”
people that write with a capital M - refers to a period of history, more concrete
people that write with a small M - changed relations to the world after the enlightenment, refusal to think about post-modernism
people that consider themselves modern in a sense of up-to-date
“external reality is material of our experience”
he is arguing that there are people who think reality is material to our experience
the relationship between the two
we experience reality but don't generate it, reality is given to us
moderns think we live inside one reality
“an underlying reality (a nature, or a real)”
the west has an idea on what the correct methods to determine what nature or real is
how the dehumanization as a logic is there and changes to exist, there is a thick continuous line (real - subordinate) > not always visible the way we think it would be > small scale (slavery - microaggressions)
the nature of this reality comes naturally - it’s a given, and everything else is an addition and culturally

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGh64E_XiVM
https://vimeo.com/191647636

i will be researching self-care capitalism that deals with advertising and the 'performance of self-care', specifically through instagram posts and advertisements that encourages you to buy products/spend money in order to take care of yourself.

https://www.trendhunter.com/protrends/rewarding-selfcare

"Recognizing that many consumers are often over-worked and stressed, brands have begun rewarding them for moments of rest and relaxation."

"This marketing approach not only encourages and fosters a culture of self-care; it also associates the brand with a level of ease and comfort that's difficult to find in fast-paced, modern life."

> points to the fact that brands (a part of capitalism) know that consumers (subjects of capitalism) are exhausted yet still involve capitalism (branding) to sell to these consumers.

https://www.marketingdive.com/news/birchbox-campaign-positions-brand-for-inclusive-self-care-push/556707/

"..promotes taking time to appreciate applying beauty and grooming products as a form of self-care."

"The cross-channel effort calls on consumers to make more time for themselves and is running on TV, digital, social and podcast ads."

"..the DTC company surveyed consumers and found that two-thirds of Americans are not taking time for themselves, mostly due to too much work or caring for others."

"Running a cross-channel campaign that includes TV is a branding push to build awareness in the competitive beauty space"

"By tapping into consumer need for moments of pleasure to fight overworking and burnout.."

"..the brand appears to be positioning itself as a provider of well-being, with its data supporting the need for self-care moments."

"..people that could use time to spoil themselves."

> when talking about 'taking time for oneself', this makes me think of the fact that capitalism does not give one time at all, that you have to 'take' it to care for yourself (if applying beauty and grooming products is your form of self-care.

> implying that beauty and grooming products are a good way to take care of yourself is stemmed from capitalism in the first place. selling you things to 'look good' is part of capitalism's ideals of how to make money because it is constantly telling you you look bad because you're tired from it overworking you.

https://www.asa.org.uk/news/taking-care-with-ads-for-self-care.html

"From a marketing perspective, ‘Self-Care’ covers a large range of products and services ranging from foods and supplements, weight management products and therapies, medicines and medical devices."

"Social media influencers can play an important role in spreading messages of self-care, but significant caution is needed if marketers want to use an influencer to promote a medicine."

"Maintaining a healthy weight is considered a significant element of self-care."

> stating that self-care 'covers a large range of products and services' points to the fact that again, capitalism has capitalised on people taking care of themselves and rerouting that care to consumerism.

> having social media be a factor in how self-care is promoted or even taught is another way to use capitalism/consumerism to influence people into this 'performative' act of self-care.

> mentioning weight in terms of self-care or well-being is a toxic trait of western ideologies and medicine and fatphobic!

"Self-care is a $450 million market with memberships to gyms and spas only the tip of the iceberg."

"Younger consumers don't just talk about taking care of themselves, they are putting their money on it."

"Millennials, in fact, are spending 2x more than other demographics on self care."

"Having a holistic view of the consumer enables marketers to create demand through predictive consumer intelligence and deliver personalized, relevant messages."

"Researchers further found that advertising is especially influential for this demographic."

http://www.bizreport.com/2019/11/how-brands-can-tap-into-the-self-care-trend.html

> diminishing self-care to being a market.

> the younger generation seems to be more affected by this self-care marketing due to having constant access to adverts.

> saying 'holistic' in the same sentence as 'consumer, marketers, create demand' feels weird.

COLLECTION FOR VIDEO

https://www.gridphilly.com/blog-home/2020/1/16/dear-lois-can-we-define-self-care-in-a-way-that-does-not-push-us-toward-consumerism

"I see firsthand the need for reducing and rethinking our use of “self-care” products, and this means addressing the immense social pressures involved, especially for women."

"The wellness industry, in particular, has blurred the lines between commercialism and self-care, hijacking our conceptions of dharma, enlightenment and self-worth by selling us useless, smelly, expensive products."

"We are bombarded with messages attempting to convince us that we are One Product Away from being happy."

"Actual self-care is an action, and is in opposition to all forms of commercialism; it is not something you can buy."

https://www.hercampus.com/school/u-mass-amherst/self-care-and-self-consumerism-what-you-have-be-careful

"Sometimes it’s [self-care] a face mask, sometimes it's going shopping, or sometimes it's splurging on an expensive meal."

"Self-care can be so much more than buying something, yet it’s perfectly valid to indulge yourself. But self indulgence shouldn’t take over the entire concept of self-care."

"It can go beyond buying $60 face masks or following diets that influencers swear by."

"“Treat yourself!” has become a capitalist enterprise, reducing self-care to buying things."

"In essence, self-care contextualizes looking after yourself and responding to what you physically and mentally need - not companies trying to get you to promote their products."