Patrick McKearney

I am a social anthropologist who works with adults with 'intellectual' or 'learning' disabilities that place them in need of care throughout their lives. I conduct long-term empirical ethnographic research in two contexts. First, professional care services in the UK, where I focus particularly on the complexities of caring relationships and the competing ideals of dependence and independence that shape them. Second, familial care in the South Indian state of Kerala and its intersection with medical and educational services provided by the government and NGOs. In all my work I explore the difference that different practices of care make to the lives of those who depend heavily upon others due to their mental impairments and to the networks of support that they rely on.