Hamdel

//Radical Care and Kinship Beyond Boundaries//

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Hamdel, from Persian "همدل," merges "هم" (together) and "دل" (heart), signifying a shared emotional connection. Kinship is not solely biological; it is the formation of emotional and social bonds that create belonging. Many Indigenous and non-Western cultures understand kinship as an ethical system that extends beyond the nuclear family, grounded in deep empathetic connections.

Empathy is the foundation of kinship, allowing us to recognize shared experiences of joy, suffering, and resistance, forming chosen kinship networks across activist spaces and marginalized communities.

 

• Hamdeli is solidarity over isolation, collectivity over individualism, and a refusal to let systems of oppression limit our care.

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• Hamdeli is a radical redefinition of care, rejecting hierarchicahl and transactional models in favor of deep listening and mutual responsibility. It demands an active and embodied connection to the struggles and joys of others. It is not just about recognizing pain but being present within it, fostering kinship as a practice of mutual survival.

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• Care has been commodified, racialized, and feminized under capitalism and colonialism. Radical care, rooted in hamdeli, disrupts these systems by emphasizing reciprocity over extraction. Inspired by feminist, abolitionist, and Indigenous epistemologies, hamdeli resists capitalist framings of empathy and instead builds collective, non-exploitative networks of care.

 

• In movements, hamdeli is not just emotional support; it is an act of resistance. It transforms grief and trauma into collective action, archiving resistance through feeling and connection. It allows us to forge solidarity across borders, identities, and struggles.

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• Hamdeli extends beyond human relationships, recognizing care as a relational practice with non-human life. Inspired by eco-feminism and radical vegan ethics, it challenges the colonial distinction between human and non-human suffering, embracing kinship as an interdependent, ethical practice that recognizes our obligations to animals, ecosystems, and future generations.

 

• To embrace hamdeli as a radical care methodology is to reject isolation, individualism, and transactional empathy. It is an active refusal to let systems of violence define who and what we are responsible for.

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• Hamdeli calls for collective responsibility, embodied solidarity, and kin-making beyond imposed boundaries—whether human, geographical, or species-based. It is our radical commitment to a world where care is not conditional, where kinship is not limited by blood, and where solidarity is non-negotiable.

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• We reject the artificial borders imposed upon our care.

• We refuse to abandon each other.

• We practice hamdeli!