Fragile! Please Handle with Care: Collective Care and Rehearsal of A Rights-Fulfilled Life among Feminist Activists Working for Human Rights in Indonesia

Abstract

This study takes a constructivist and ethnographic approach to examine collective care among feminist activists working for human rights in Indonesia. Thirteen activists were engaged in in-depth conversations. Leveraging the theories of practice and care, the study found that collective care emerges as a counter-culture practice against the tyranny of carelessness, which is rooted in capitalism, cis-heteropatriarchy, carcerality, and coloniality, and is actively reproduced internally in human rights activism through inattention and desattention strategies. The study discusses cultures in movement and highlights internal challenges faced by activists, including the rarely discussed conflicts and tensions within activist circles. The analysis demonstrates collective care as both a practice and a language of human dignity, embodying not only a critique of human rights activism but also a prefiguration strategy. Through collective care, feminist activists are rehearsing a dignified life, where human rights are fulfilled and realized. The insights in this study are valuable for activists, donor organizations, institutions and actors interested in the wellbeing of activists and transforming the struggle for human rights into a more dignified, long-lasting, and revolutionary political future.