Feminist care ethics, becoming area

In rethinking area studies, I argue for a more open approach to standpoint theory, one that is rooted in a feminist ethics of care. The latter's commitment to intimate knowing, and its problematisation of the distance between self and other, allows for a more relational approach to place. By drawing from feminist care ethics, it thus becomes possible to address criticisms of essentialism and distancing that place-based standpoint theory is also charged with. I address these theoretical debates as a researcher from an 'Area' who 'never left'; and within the context of my own struggles with knowing how to place, and distance myself as an academic and member of the LGBTQ activist community in Singapore.