Jason Danely

Fragile Resonance: Caring for Older Family Members in Japan and England

available now from Cornell University Press US orders click here

outside the US, order from Combined Academic Press

"With compassionate yet unflinching ethnographic attention, Fragile Resonances explores fragile care ecologies. As systems of care rely on increasingly isolated unpaid carers, Jason Danely describes these acts of care as both transformative and devastating, as beautiful and dangerous, as intimate and alienating."

Anna I. Corwin, Saint Mary's College of California, author of Embracing Age: How Catholic Nuns Became Models of Aging Well

"A beautifully-written, insightful, and very moving book on a topic–unpaid family caregiving–of enormous importance that has received far too little scholarly attention."

Janelle Taylor, University of Toronto, author of On Recognition, Caring, and Dementia

"Jason Danely brings to life the voices of Japanese and British caregivers, expertly conveying their moral reflections and understandings."

Susan O. Long, John Carroll University, author of Final Days

"A well-written and important book, Fragile Resonances is an outstanding ethnography that thoughtfully wrestles with issues faced by both carers and care recipients."

John Traphagan, University of Texas at Austin, author of Cosmopolitan Rurality, Depopulation, and Entrepreneurial Ecosystems in 21st-Century Japan

Fragile Resonance describes the paths carers take as they make meaning of their experiences and find a sense of moral purpose to sustain them and guide their decisions. When a parent or partner becomes frail or disabled, often a family member assumes responsibility for their care. But family care is a physically and emotionally exhausting undertaking. Carers experience moments of profound connection as well as pain and grief. Carers ask themselves questions about the meaning of family, their entitlement to support, and their capacity to understand and sympathize with another person's pain.

Based on his research gathering stories of family carers in Japan and England, Jason Danely traces how care transforms individual sensibilities and the role of cultural narratives and imagination in shaping these transformations, which persist even after the care recipient has died. Throughout Fragile Resonance, Danely examines the implications of unpaid carer's experiences for challenging and enhancing social policies and institutions, highlighting innovative alternatives grounded in the practical ethics of care.