Cultural Analysis of Disability
For: Research Master and PhD Students
Type: course and open lecture evenings
ECTS: 6
Dates: Thursdays, 4 February – 24 March, 2016
Time: 15:00-19:00
Place: BG2, UvA, Turfdraagsterpad 15-17, 1012 XT Amsterdam: room 0.02
Organizers: Jules Sturm, Sofia Apostolidou, Ymke Kelders
Registration: short motivation letter to nica-fgw@uva.nl (before January 10, 2016)
Contact: J.V.Sturm@uva.nl
More information: http://disabilitystudies.nl/agenda/evening-about-whos-afraid-disability
Please note: we will try to take into account everyone’s access needs. Please contact us in advance, if you have any access needs or wishes.
In collaboration with: Disability Studies in Nederland (http://disabilitystudies.nl/)
Accompanying evening program, open to the public: “Who’s Afraid of Disability?”, 4 February 2016, 19:30-21:30: Doelenzaal, UB University of Amsterdam, Singel 425, 1012 WP Amsterdam. Please note: If you want to attend the evening lecture, please register in advance (before Januay 28, 2016) by filling in the registration form at http://disabilitystudies.nl/en/registration-form-evening-about-whos-afraid-disability
This seminar centres around a new analytical perspective on disability: Cultural Analysis of Disability. This approach emphasizes the idea that disability theory has implications and effects beyond the health and/or social policy sector, and that it becomes productive for the analysis of culture at large. Cultural Analysis of Disability is not an established discipline with a fixed methodology. Rather, it is an interdisciplinary research practice that understands the dialogue between bodies, disability experience, and theory as a productive and malleable field of cultural production and self-reflection.
This seminar is characterized by an interdisciplinary approach to disability in the social, cultural, political, artistic, ethical, and medical spheres and their intersections. The aim of the course is to bring together people from different disciplines, and approach disability as a concept using the analytical tools of cultural analysis, where interdisciplinarity is encouraged under a socially and politically responsible outlook. While the focus will be academic, cross-disciplinary collaborations of artistic production, social engagement, and academic analysis are greatly welcome; we hope that the seminar will provide the grounds for the advancement of critical disability studies in the Netherlands.
We encourage MA students with a background in cultural theory, art, performance studies, philosophy, social theory, medical anthropology, literary studies, etc. to send a 500 word motivation letter to Ymke Kelders (ymkekelders@gmail.com) and Sofia Apostolidou (sophiapostolidou@gmail.com) before January 10, 2016. In your application, please provide us with some information on your background, why you are interested in the course and what you expect from it.