Research Context

Abstract

As I established in the introduction, the subject of fathers’ embodied caregiving has received little scholarly attention up to now. So literature which bears directly on the research I will be describing in this book is scant. But several areas of existing research bear on it indirectly, and would be enriched by its inclusion. As a study of fathers’ caregiving, it could add to a burgeoning literature on fathering, as identity and practice. In its focus on men as hands-on caregivers, it could extend research on caregiving as body work, and the circumstances in which men engage in it. Finally, and most directly, it could be a significant addition to research on embodiment — and men’s bodies in particular. More importantly, it has the potential not only to add to these existing areas of research, but to act as a nexus bringing them all together. In the sections that follow, I fill in the broader research context, as a means of shading in the background and making space for what needs to be in the foreground. I end the chapter with a discussion of the theoretical and methodological assumptions that guide my research.