Date of Submission
Spring 2021
Academic Program
Anthropology
Project Advisor 1
Yuka Suzuki
Abstract/Artist's Statement
This project embarks on an exploration of Queens Mutual Aid Network, which was started in March 2020 in response to the COVID-19 crisis. This group has provided food assistance, unemployment support, help procuring prescription medicine, and a digital space for community networking to the people of the extended Queens community. I also analyze the Corona community fridge and its implications for community care networks in the wake of overwhelming need. As part of my research, I spent time conversing with community activists about these efforts, and made food deliveries to the community fridges in my area. I then contextualize these efforts in the history of mutual aid theory, and discuss how they relate to -and depart from - traditional understandings of mutual aid. Finally, I ask what community means in this context, calling upon a variety of stories and voices.
Open Access Agreement
Open Access
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Hamilton, Caitlin, "Opening the Fridge: An Exploration of Mutual Aid and Community Care in Queens, New York" (2021). Senior Projects Spring 2021. 244.
https://digitalcommons.bard.edu/senproj_s2021/244
This work is protected by a Creative Commons license. Any use not permitted under that license is prohibited.