The Personal is Political: Feminist Geographies of/in Austerity

Geographers are beginning to more fully consider the ways in which austerity can be encountered at and across a range of social spaces, with growing interest in how austerity politics play out in everyday personal lives. With this paper I contribute to these burgeoning discussions by drawing upon, connecting and extending feminist theories of the personal and political, quiet activisms, gendered care and care work, and social infrastructures. Using findings from two years of ethnographic research with community groups and families in Greater Manchester, UK (2013-2015), I explore the significance of everyday social infrastructures, the value of quieter politics, and the role of body-work and care work in fieldwork. These findings illuminate how managing the fallout from austerity policies - whether managing budgets, performing care work, or providing emotional support - remains a largely gendered responsibility with distinctly personal and political consequences. To close, I encourage fellow geographers to further engage with feminist theories of the personal, political and relational, which remain as important as ever.