3.0

credits

Average Course Rating

Disability has historically occupied a very narrow place in our cultural imaginations. In modern times, disability is almost always considered a medical issue. Yet, seemingly able-bodied, normal observers often exhibit a wide range of reactions when they encounter a disabled body. What would happen, therefore, if we shifted our focus away from the medical and toward these aesthetic and affective reactions? What if we focused on the pity, fear, and horror that encountering disability engenders in a so-called normal person? What if we considered normalcy itself as something that is socially constructed? In pursuit of answers to these questions, this course introduces students to the field of disability studies. Through an investigation of how disability is represented across a wide range of different media, the course will challenge students to rethink what they may think they know about culture, embodiment, and the politics of medical categories. Readings for this course may include Cece Bell, Ken Kesey, Virginia Woolf, Jordan Scott, Carson McCullers, Nina Raine, Lennard J. Davis, Ellen Jean Samuels, Tobin Siebers, Anlor Davin, Robert McRuer, Mladen Dolar, Jasbir K. Puar, Melanie Yergeau, Marilyn Wann, and April Herndon.