Caregiving Made Him a Radical Feminist: A Conversation with Dr. Arthur Kleinman

They were an academic power couple at Harvard University when Dr. Arthur Kleinman’s wife Joan became ill with early-onset Alzheimer's Dementia.  Arthur became her primary caregiver.  A harrowing odyssey of decline follows, challenging this capable and loving Professor of Psychiatry and Anthropology and inspiring his poignant and revealing book The Soul of Care; The Moral Education of a Husband and a Doctor.  Paul talks to Arthur about his beloved Joan’s illness and care, and how he learned — through this devastating experience — that ‘care’ is the social glue of society.  Once artisanal in nature, personal caregiving, now dominated by big business and at the mercy of government regulations, is at risk of losing its soul but for the compassion and love bestowed by individual caregivers in their work with patients. Dr. Kleinman describes how this crisis of 'care' in America is evidenced by caregivers being underpaid, undervalued, and often disrespected.  These workers are often immigrant women of color doing herculean work.  Dr. Kleinman believes there needs to be a moral movement for care, bringing together many currently siloed segments of the population, including parents caring for kids with autism, and those assisting seniors, disabled and sick family members. Recorded before the Covid Crisis, many details of his personal and family challenge, speak to issues underscored by the current pandemic. Join us for this moving tale of a self-described ‘unpromising caregiver’ and his rise to the occasion; one man’s experience in the trenches of care, and his call to action for cultural change to re-humanize care.