Winter 2007
Rackham 580: Topics in Disability Studies: Disability and Culture
RealAudio
Recordings of class
lectures
| Jan 5 | Jan 12 | Jan 19 | Jan 26 | Feb 2 | Feb 9 |
| Feb 16 | Mar 9 | Mar 16 | Mar 23 | Mar 30 | Apr 13 |
Coursepack:
Disability and Language: Guidelines
for writing
about disability
Currently, there are two main ways of referring to disability endorsed by different segments of the disability community: social model/civil rights language (‘disabled people’) and people first language (‘people with disabilities’). Both of these usages are widely acceptable to many disabled people/people with disabilities. If in doubt about what kind of language is appropriate, ask.
Further guidelines for writing about disability:
http://www.lsi.ku.edu/lsi/internal/guidelines.html
It is our intention to support the full participation of all students in the learning process of this class. We have incorporated a variety of instruction techniques and evaluation methods in the course process. In spite of these efforts, situations may occur in which the learning style of individual students is not met by the instructional climate. It is our expectation that students who require specific or additional support to acquire the course content or demonstrate their achievement of the objectives will inform us of their needs immediately. For UM-Ann Arbor, please contact the Office of Students with Disabilities, G664 Haven Hall, at 763-3000. For U-M Flint, Ms. Paula Pollander is available in the office of Accessibility Services in 264 UCEN at 762-3456 to provide direct assistance.
Disability studies is an exciting emerging field of work in the humanities, and the field addresses the lived experience of disability in relation to the cultural and social ways in which we make meaning of the category of disability.
In this course, we will investigate how we can understand the emergence of a minority culture and an identity politics surrounding disability, and we look at art practices as ways of sharing life experiences respectfully, and with an awareness of the ethical issues involved in encounters.
Artists and writers from the US and beyond will be visiting our classroom, and we will develop an overview of disability culture today, its practices, its aesthetics, and its ways of engaging in political labor.
Mandatory attendance and participation in class is expected.
Assessment Strategy:
1 Credit and 3 Credit Candidates:
As part of your course portfolio, you have to complete the following
assignments:
1. Book Review (to DSQ standard), from the last 5 years (please check
with instructor) (graded)
2. Response to Anarcha symposium (scholarly or creative) (pass/fail)
3. Discussion and Peer Review of Research Proposals by 3 Credit
Candidates (pass/fail)
You also have to complete one of the following options:
4. Journal Review (graded)
5. Project Proposal for Arts Exhibit, Research Application or similar (graded)
All 3 Credit Candidates also have to complete the following components:
6. Poster for April conference (scholarly or creative)
7. Short in-class presentation on their research
8. Final Paper (slanted towards a specific publication, appropriate to
your field)
| Jan 5 | INTRODUCTION TO DISABILITY STUDIES . Videos: The Scary Lewis Yell-A-Thon and Vital Signs |
Jan 12 |
DISABILITY AND REPRESENTATION. Readings: Garland Thomson, Kuppers 'Introduction', Gill |
Jan 19 |
'WE ARE NOT A METAPHOR' . Kaite O'Reilly's 'Peeling' and d/Deaf performance work. Guest:: Kaite O'Reilly. Readings: O'Reilly, Kuppers 'Deconstructing Images' (Optional) |
Jan 26 |
SOUNDING OUT, GIVING VOICE . Guest: Stephen Kuusisto (Disabilities Studies Program, Ohio State University) . Readings: Kuusisto 'Only Bread' Only Light', Kuusisto 'Eavesdropping' |
Feb 2 |
DISABILITY, POETRY, PERFORMANCE . Guest: Jim Ferris (Communication Arts, University of Wisconsin-Madison) . Readings: Ferris, Kuppers 'Disability Culture Poetry' |
Feb 9 |
DISABILITY IN THE THEATRE. Guests: Vicki Lewis (Theatre Dept., University of Redlands) and Ann Fox (English Dept., Davidson College). Readings: Lewis 'Introduction', Nussbaum, Lewis 'The Theatrical Landscape', Fox. |
Feb 16 |
Student Run Mid-Term Evaluation and Discussion |
Feb 23 |
No Class |
Mar 2 |
No Class |
Mar 9 |
CREATING OUR CULTURE: VISUAL ART. Guest: Ann Millett (University of North Carolina). Readings: Millett, Hevey. |
Mar 16 |
DISABILITY CULTURE / DISABILITY HISTORY. Video: 'Eugenics World Without Bodies', documentary. Readings: Pernick, Snyder, Kobsell (Optional). |
Mar 23 |
DISABILITY CULTURE / DISABILITY HISTORY: WORKING THE ARCHIVE. Guest: Susan Schweik (English, UC-Berkeley). Readings: Schweik |
Mar 30 |
Preparation for Symposium. Readings: Kuppers 'Remembering Anarcha', Hobson, Gamble, Sandahl (Optional). |
| Apr 4-5 | ANARCHA Symposium Attendance. |
Apr 13 |
Students Project Sharings. Class Evaluation. Projects Due |
February 16 : Student Run Mid-Term Evaluation and Discussion
The following three questions will be the point of departure for your review discussion. Please write down your responses so you can submit them on the day of class.
- Describe three points you have learned so far.
- List three questions about disability or disability studies that have not yet been answered.
- Offer three recommendations for the class format, structure or physical environment.
April 13 : Projects Due. Presentations of Projects in class
Each student who is taking the class for 3 credits is responsible for a 3-5 minute presentation of the results of their project. It is expected that the presentation will demonstrate how you have integrated material from the class (lectures, readings and outside speakers) into your project. Also, all final projects will be submitted on this day.1. Garland Thomson, Rosemarie. (1997). “Disability, Identity, and Representation: An Introduction”. Extraordinary Bodies, University of Columbia Press, pp 6-51.
2. Kuppers, Petra. (2003). “Performance and Disability: An Introduction”. Disability and Contemporary Performance: Bodies on Edge. London and New York: Routledge, pp. 1-11.
NEW READING: Gill, Carol J. 1995. "A Psychological View of Disability Culture." First published in Disability Studies Quarterly, Fall 1995. Internet publication URL: http://www.independentliving.org/docs3/gill1995.html
3. O’Reilly, Kaite. (2002). “Peeling”. London: Faber and Faber.
4. Kuppers, Petra. (2003). “Deconstructing Images: Performing Disability”. Disability and Contemporary Performance: Bodies on Edge. London and New York: Routledge, pp. 49-69.
5. Kuusisto, Stephen. (2000). Selected Poems from Only Bread, Only Light. Port Townsend: Copper Canyon Press.
6. Kuusisto, Stephen. (2006). Chapters 1, 15 and 17 from Eavesdropping: A Memoir of Blindness and Listening. New York and London: W.W. Norton & Company.
7. Ferris, Jim. (2004). “The Enjambed Body: A Step Toward a Crippled Poetics”. The Georgia Review. 58(2): 219-233.
8. Kuppers, Petra. (2006). “Disability Culture Poetry: The Sound of the Bones. A Literary Essay”. Disability Studies Quarterly. Fall 2006, 26(4).
9. Lewis, Victoria. (2006). “Introduction”. Beyond Victims and Villains: Contemporary Plays by Disabled Playwrights. New York: Theatre Communications Group, pp. xiii-xlv.
10. Nussbaum, Susan. (2006). “No One As Nasty”. Beyond Victims and Villains: Contemporary Plays by Disabled Playwrights. New York: Theatre Communications Group, pp. 343-393.
11. Lewis, Victoria. (2004). "The Theatrical Landscape of Disability". Disability Studies Quarterly. Summer 2004, 24(3).
12. Fox, Ann M. “Wartime Traumas: Disability and the Changing Nature of Intervention”. Fabulous Invalids: Disability on the American Stage from Melodrama to the Millennium.
13. Millett, Ann. (2006). “Disarming Venus and the Re-Vision of Art History”. FemTAP: A Journal of Feminist Theory and Practice (http://www.femtap.com/id13.html), Summer 2006.
14. Hevey, David (1992). “The Enfreakment of Photography”. The Disability Studies Reader. London and New York: Routledge, pp. 332-347.
15. Pernick, Martin. (1997). "Defining the Defective: Eugenics, Aesthetics, and Mass Culture in Early-Twentieth Century America". The Body and Physical Difference: Discourses of Disability. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, pp 89-101.
16. Snyder, Sharon L. and David T. Mitchell. (2006). “The Eugenic Atlantic: Disability and the Making of an International Science”. Cultural Locations of Disability. Chicago and London, pp. 100-129.
17. Köbsell, Swantje. (2006). “Towards Self-Determination and Equalization: A Short History of the German Disability Rights Movement”. Disability Studies Quarterly. Spring 2006, 26(2).
18. Schweik, Susan. (2006). “The Right to the City”. The American Ugly Laws.
19. Kuppers, Petra. (2006). “Remembering Anarcha: Objection in the Medical Archive”. Unpublished Essay.
20. Hobson, Janelle. (2005). “The Hottentot Venus Revisited: The Politics of Reclamation”. Venus in the Dark: Blackness and Beauty in Popular Culture. London and New York: Routledge, pp. 54-86.
21. Gamble, Vanessa Northington. (1997). “Under the Shadow of Tuskegee: African American and Health Care”. American Journal of Public Health. Nov. 1997, 87(11), 1773-1778.
22. Sandahl, Carrie: "Black Man, Blind Man: Disability Identity Politics and Performance". Theatre Journal. December 2004, 56(4), 579-602.
