With the global pandemic having disproportionately affected adults, the caregiving roles of children have garnered increased media attention. This belated visibility has, however, tended to reproduce the racialized and classed hierarchies that mask children’s caregiving in contexts of precarity. While the caregiving actions of middle-class children now circulate within a more affective register as small acts of kindness, the everyday caregiving roles of marginal children in the majority world largely continue to be naturalized and made invisible. In stark contrast, existing research on these children’s caregiving practices has skillfully analyzed its temporal, spatial, relational, and structural workings (Dearden et al., 2000; Evans et al., 2009, 2019; Garcia-Sanchez, 2018). However, the extent to which Childhood Studies has been able to engage the broader implications of children’s caregiving within precarious contexts in the majority world remains ambiguous. Could recognizing the different relationalities that these caregiving practices mark help realign our existing reluctance? Through briefly engaging existing research on marginal children’s caregiving and reading this together with efforts to historicize and reevaluate these different relationalities, including the challenge these pose to neoliberalism’s subjective technologies, I offer some preliminary ideas around a potential reframing.

中文翻译：

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不稳定和儿童的关系问题

随着全球大流行对成年人的影响不成比例，儿童的照料作用引起了媒体越来越多的关注。然而，这种迟来的可见性往往会再现种族化和等级化的等级制度，这些等级制度掩盖了儿童在不稳定环境中的照顾。虽然中产阶级儿童的照料行为现在作为小善举在更感人的范围内传播，但在多数世界中，边缘儿童的日常照料角色在很大程度上继续被自然化和隐形。与此形成鲜明对比的是，现有对这些儿童照料实践的研究巧妙地分析了其时间、空间、关系和结构运作（Dearden 等，2000；Evans 等，2009，2019；Garcia-Sanchez，2018）。然而，在大多数世界的不稳定环境中，儿童研究能够在多大程度上涉及儿童看护的更广泛影响仍然不明确。认识到这些护理实践所标记的不同关系是否有助于重新调整我们现有的不情愿？通过简要介绍关于边缘儿童照料和阅读的现有研究，并努力历史化和重新评估这些不同的关系，包括这些对新自由主义主观技术构成的挑战，我围绕潜在的重新构建提供了一些初步的想法。认识到这些护理实践所标记的不同关系是否有助于重新调整我们现有的不情愿？通过简要介绍关于边缘儿童照料和阅读的现有研究，并努力历史化和重新评估这些不同的关系，包括这些对新自由主义主观技术构成的挑战，我围绕潜在的重新构建提供了一些初步的想法。认识到这些护理实践所标记的不同关系是否有助于重新调整我们现有的不情愿？通过简要介绍关于边缘儿童照料和阅读的现有研究，并努力历史化和重新评估这些不同的关系，包括这些对新自由主义主观技术构成的挑战，我围绕潜在的重新构建提供了一些初步的想法。