Visualising Men's Caregiving Practices: Instances in Three Contemporary Bengali Films

Feminists have sought to dismantle the feminization of care work within patriarchal cultures in a variety of ways. Responding to a growing interest in men and masculinities, a significant thrust within such initiatives has been to expand the role of the father and husband/partner beyond the patriarchal confines of reproduction and breadwinning, to greater involvement in care and other domestic work. This paper brings into focus three contemporary Bengali films which, through their representation of different forms of men’s care work, make it possible to expand the prevailing understanding of male caregiving practices in a number of ways. The paper tries to complicate the habitual equation of the genitor with fatherhood to show that that role is often played by other (male) persons in the community. It attempts to understand forms of men’s support that undermine patriarchal authority in the family. It explores an ethics of care that can be dislocated from the domain of the private to inform practices of support that are situational and emanate from the kindness of strange men.