The embodied experiences of people whose labor revolves around care are often invisible and undervalued. This project is a collaboration with the GREAT Start program (Home Visiting and Doula support) at the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District. The Home Visitors and Doulas serve families in Champaign County, Illinois, with an estimated population of 206,000.
Through a series of participatory mapping sessions, we gained a deep and insightful analysis of the bodily experiences of Home Visitors and Community-based doulas, using individual and collective body maps. We complemented individual maps with a contextual perspective, exploring how bodies move across spaces, domestic contexts and institutional settings. By incorporating an element of physical space (connection to land), we explored how these workers are socially situated, including how they perceive power, privilege and positionality across multiple spaces, and how they negotiate institutional and ancestral forms of knowledge in different locations.
As part of a holistic understanding of participatory research, we also held conversations about well-being, and co-created meanings about health and wellness. We connected individual well-being with social and environmental factors, and co-shaped a collective horizon for care. We also provided participants with opportunities to experiment with care practices that they can incorporate within their routines and with the families they work with.
In participatory body mapping, we shaped a collective narrative using a body image, that will be used as a tool for advocacy. It challenges stereotypes, and breaks the silence about the work of Home Visitors and Doulas in our society.
