Cross-cultural (Dis-)Locations of Disability–cfp

From: Sarah Dauncey <sarah.dauncey@nottingham.ac.uk>
CFP: Cross-cultural (Dis-)Locations of Disability (ACLA, 2016, Harvard University)

Please see below our CFP for a seminar we are proposing to the American Comparative Literature Association Annual Meeting, March 2016, at Harvard University. We warmly welcome abstracts from scholars working on issues related to disability and culture from around the world, particularly those focusing on under-researched regions (such as China) or those that offer transnational/cross-cultural perspectives.

Abstract/CV submission deadline: September 23, 2015

Cross-cultural (Dis-)Locations of Disability Organizer: Sarah Dauncey, University of Nottingham Co-Organizer: Hangping Xu, Stanford University

The emerging field of critical disability studies has yet to broaden its historical and conceptual horizon beyond the Euro-American context, especially in comparison with the more established studies of race, class, gender, and sexuality. Transnational and comparative approaches have often been shown to unsettle Euro-centric assumptions and Universalist pretentions regarding these minority identities and discourses, and investigations are beginning to show that the same might also be said of disability. Moreover, transnational exchanges can enrich political imaginations in the context of disability activism as a movement for social justice. To further develop and expand this exciting new field of inquiry, this seminar invites submission of papers that examine disability aesthetics and politics from both inside and outside the Euro-American context, although the latter is the focus of the seminar. Questions that will be central to the discussions therein include, but are not limited to:

  • How can non-Western narratives of disability revise or intervene into current disability theories, whether the social  and rights-based models of the U.K. or the culturalist approaches in the United States?
  • What epistemic violence might result when theories produced in the West are imposed upon inquiries of disability in other contexts?
  • How are disability studies and post-colonial studies converging, and to what ends?
  • In what ways do the transnational circulations of disability knowledge, images, and symbols shine light on the power mechanisms of globalization?
  • How does the political and moral economy of disability care and affect get imbricated in global capitalism?
  • What are the limits, if any, of the liberal tradition in politicizing disability movement?
  • What can be drawn from alternative political visions such as the Socialist legacy in China?

Because the investigation of culture involves reconstructing the representational mediations, we welcome critical investigations of various narratives and texualities such as literature, film, popular culture, performing arts, and other visual/verbal artifacts. Moreover, intersectional studies of disability in conjunction with gender, sexuality, class, and race are particularly pertinent. And all theoretical persuasions are welcome. Ultimately, the seminar strives to expand the theoretical and political space of disability studies by bringing together alterative histories, narratives, and visions concerning disability issues. In so doing, we also aim to contribute to discussions, in cultural and social theory, of broader concerns such as embodiment, agency, identity politics, representation, and aesthetics.

Please send abstracts and a brief CV to Sarah Dauncey (Sarah.Dauncey@nottingham.ac.uk) and Hangping Xu (hangping@stanford.edu) For information about the panel and the conference generally, see http://www.acla.org/seminar/cross-cultural-dis-locations-disability

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