Disability – perspectives from Europe and the United States
Disability used to be a medical category; if it could not be medically fixed, people had to endure what fate had dealt them. This perception has changed dramatically in the last 40 years: Disability is now perceived as a social construction which can be altered. That this paradigm shift happened is mostly due to disabled people themselves: first through joining forces and campaigning for civil rights, secondly through researching dis/ability from the perspective of those with disabilities, and thirdly by establishing a creative way of expressing themselves: Disability Arts. The seminar offers the unique opportunity to learn and discuss with two experts in the field: Kenny Fries, writer and poet from the United States (www.kennyfries.com) who is presently staying in Berlin, and Swantje Köbsell, long time German disability activist and now professor for disability studies at the ASH.
Students will learn:
--to distinguish between the different models of difference (religious/moral, medical, social) and how these models affect the art, culture, and lives not only of disabled people but everyone
-- how the rethinking of disability has evolved
-- about the polical, legal, and cultural impact of the “new thinking” about disability
--how images of “extraordinay bodies” have been looked at throughout history to the present in various media including literature, painting, photography, film, and performance.
-- how narratives of disability influence the life options of those perceived as disabled in all areas of life, including sexuality and reproduction
--how narratives by writers with disabilities challenge long held ideas of what comprises a disabled life and how these narratives offer alternative values to all of us
--to use the perspective of disability studies (and the perspective of other related fields such as gender studies and queer studies) to learn to read and decode written and visual images of different bodies
-- about how the persistance of traditional (medical) thinking about disability influences discourses on prenatal testing and assisted suicide
--how to elicit, read, and listen to histories told by those with disabilities in professional/clinical settings
--the relationship between how narratives of disability both reflect and rebut the cultural norms of the era in which the narratives are written
-- that disability cannot be treated as an isolated phenonemon but intersects with gender, class, ehnicity and sexuality (to name just a few)
We are looking forward to interesting and lively discussions!
Contact:
Kenny Fries:kenny@kennyfries.com, Swantje Köbsell: koebsell@ash-berlin.eu
Requirements
Every participant who wants a confirmation of participation has to do either a short presentation (e.g. outline of a seminal text), write a journal on one seminar session or fulfill another small topical task. Also, students are expected to attend the seminar on a regular basis, involve themselves actively in the discussions and read the texts provided on moodle.
Those participants who need a mark have the following options:
- Short individual presentation (approx 20 mins)
Presentation relating to a specified aspect of a subject
or
on a specified topic from the schedule (max 4 persons, approx. 80 mins)
or
- Marked paper (in English, 10-15 pages)
paper on a topic agreed to with the instructors.
|
