Territórios de cuidado: reflexões sobre ética e a prática do cuidado na velhice.

This article proposes a reflection on care based on an ethnographic study carried out in Coimbra, Portugal, between 2013 and 2017, which addressed the relationships established between the elderly and the territory where they live, where they spend most of their time and experienced the most. Over time, care for the elderly has been characterised by strong hierarchical relationships that implied vulnerabilities and social, economic, age and gender inequalities. This hierarchy tends to undermine the people who, depending on the relationship established, either give or receive the care. Moreover, academic approaches to care have given priority to questions related to work – more specifically, domestic work – and the provision of educational, health or aesthetic services. The thoughts we put forward here aim to deepen the topic of care as possible and necessary ethos and praxis that go beyond social relationships and that have the territory of proximity as the original, dialectic and meeting point.