Danya Glabau examines the consequences of school closures for families, drawing out how two older and interlinked crises of the family are exacerbated by the pandemic: the crisis of the privatization of the family and the crisis of patriarchy within it. By looking at schools, daycare, and families as integral and integrated parts of the social safety net in the United States, Glabau argues that under pandemic circumstances (as with many disasters) families are largely expected to take care of themselves, relying on their own highly strained resources. Reflecting a larger pattern, women are frequently expected to take on the majority of added caretaking roles, labor that remains underfunded and invisible.
Danya Glabau
Danya Glabau is a medical anthropologist and science and technology studies (STS) scholar researching patient activism, the medical economy, and how human bodies become valuable data. Her book-in-progress, Reproducing Safety: Food Allergy Advocacy and the Politics of Care, examines how food allergy activists get involved in scientific research and political advocacy, and how race, class, and gender shape their advocacy goals. Her new work turns a feminist STS lens on the evolving business models of digital health care companies. She is industry assistant professor and director of science and technology studies at NYU Tandon School of Engineering and Faculty at the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research, and she earned her PhD from the Department of Science and Technology Studies at Cornell University.