Commodified Care: Henri Nouwen’s Legacy of Spiritual Transformation through Care

Through books, videos, podcasts, and webinars, the Henri Nouwen Society’s Caregiving Initiative aims to provide “practical and spiritual encouragement” to professional and family caregivers by sharing Nouwen’s “unique perspective on caregiving.” This paper analyzes the proliferation of caregiving resources through Nouwen’s legacy in light of two critical concerns: 1) the instrumentalization of intellectual disability for the spiritual transformation of nondisabled caregivers and 2) the valorization of sacrificial care labor under racial capitalism. By examining Nouwen’s account of spiritual transformation through care, I argue that these caregiving resources reinforce capitalist logics that reduce disabled people to the value they produce for nondisabled caregivers while simultaneously masking the exploitation of care labor (most often carried out by women of color) as a form of virtuous suffering. Ultimately, I reflect on whether and how care might be spiritually transformative, even as a site of ongoing violence and exploitation.