The Fifth Wave
Building better care.
The Fifth Wave is a bimonthly newsletter for people transforming how we care.
We all care, and are all cared for. Some, more than others — care is one of the most universal yet most unequally distributed of human activities. This inadequate organisation traps millions into lives of precarity and exhaustion. It denies vulnerability and interdependence as central pillars of the social fabric, leaving many of those who do not fit dominant expectations to make do with institutions ill-adjusted to them.
The Fifth Wave believes in the care society: a concrete horizon of mutual support, solidarity, dignity and non-domination. In it, care would be central, shared, valued, intergenerational, fair and collective, rather than segmented and confined to the margins of our cities. Only in such a world could all of us have a chance to give and receive good care. Only in such a world could all of us have the opportunity to thrive.
Our work
Analysis. We analyse innovative care models from around the world. When it comes to social innovation, the “local initiative —> replication —> integration into the national infrastructure” pipeline is a tried and tested way to drive society-wide change. We believe in starting small, and scaling what works.
Interviews. We publish interviews with people building the futures of care, through their practice or their thinking. And because the best insights on care come from caring, we ask all our interviewees: “Who do you care for, and who cares for you?”
Essays. We work to shift narratives around care, showing that humans are interdependent, vulnerable, and better set up to flourish when supported by resilient care systems. We aim to elevate the importance of caregiving as a pillar of life and a central concern of political decision-making.
Team
The Fifth Wave was created in September of 2025 by Mélina Magdelénat.
A graduate from the University of Oxford, I’m building a French nonprofit, Cara, dedicated to placing vulnerability and interdependence at the heart of public action. This newsletter is Cara’s English-language branch. I’m also a freelance editor and a Visiting Fellow at U.S-based think tank Capita.
My broader research interests include the interplay of care systems and intrafamily violence; men and masculinities; feminist theory; carceralism and the judicial treatment of sexual offences. I am particularly fascinated by the intersection of masculinity and affective education — how men learn to care, how different societies teach them to, and how we can design better paths for men into caregiving roles.
As its name reveals, The Fifth Wave is a feminist publication and community, with a strong intellectual debt to the many feminist writers, activists and academics who have long enriched and questioned our ideas about care. We are committed to advancing reproductive justice, acknowledging the vital role that Black and queer feminists in particular have played — and are still playing — in that fight.
I am grateful to be working with writers and scholars who contribute to the project directly or indirectly, including Bethany Hansel, Zoë Clark, Christine Leroy, Jessica Mariana Masucci, and Hélène Collis.
Get involved
Just like caregiving itself, building the futures of care is a collective effort. If you resonate with our mission and would like to be a part of the journey, don’t hesitate to email Mélina Magdelénat at melina@fifthwaveinstitute.com.
If you would simply like to learn about the systems and people transforming how we care, subscribe to our newsletter. And if you would like to support our work, helping us bring you more in-depth research and better interviews while fairly compensating those on whose efforts this publication stands, consider becoming a paid subscriber.
