Love My Naps, But Stay Woke: The Case Against Self-Care

• Published in: About campus 2019-05, Vol.24 (2), p.4-11
• Main Authors: Squire, Dian D., Nicolazzo, Z
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Civil Rights; College Faculty; Graduate Students; Graduate Study; Mental Health; Self Management; Stress Management; United States History; Well Being; Work Environment
• ISSN: 1086-4822; 1536-0687
• DOI: 10.1177/1086482219869997

Faculty members in graduate preparation programs and former practitioners in the field often come together to think about issues and trends in the field. A pressing trend noticed lately is the proliferation of self-care. Self-care is often thought of as relaxation tactics one must complete in light of the ongoing stressors, anxieties, and duress of increased work demands, particularly in a do-more-with-less culture often found in universities today. These tactics are often additional tasks one must take on, as they are not incorporated into daily life. This article considers the insidious way that the rhetoric of self care negatively affects the field of education and the depths at which a self-care rhetoric has become normalized. The self-care rhetoric has also prompted the authors to continue to analyze the ways that capitalistic principles have harnessed a power within the field that treats graduate students as a means of production at the neglect of their mental health. With that experience in mind, the authors share this analysis. They argue that self-care rhetoric devoid of fundamental shifts in how the field structures the work of graduate students is toxic and detrimental to the mental health of students and the sustainability of the field.