Disability, Embodiment, and Technology
AMST 317
Fall 2014 not offered
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| Crosslisting:
SISP 317 |
| Course Cluster: Disability Studies |
In this course, we will explore the relationship between the body and technology through the lens of disability studies scholarship. We will address the following questions: How is the dis/abled body imagined in technological discourse? How have technological advances transformed understandings of the dis/abled body? How have attempts to surpass physical limitations--from issues of accessibility to assistive technologies (such as cochlear implants and prostheses)--transformed definitions of disability? How do bodily norms shape constructions of disability, and how do other categories of difference--including race, gender, and sexuality--work to constitute ideas of able-bodiedness? Finally, how does the treatment of disabled bodies, and their relationship to technological progress, speak to broader anxieties about the nature of human embodiment in the modern world?
To consider these and other questions, we will consult a wide range of texts, focusing primarily on disability studies scholarship, but also including perspectives from scholars of law, history, ethnography, queer studies, critical race studies, and science and technology studies. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
SBS AMST |
| Course Format: Seminar | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: (AMST) |
Major Readings:
Lennard Davis, ed., THE DISABILITY STUDIES READER, 4th Edition
David Serlin, REPLACEABLE YOU: ENGINEERING THE BODY IN POSTWAR AMERICA
Robert McRuer and Anna Mollow, eds., SEX AND DISABILITY
Paul K. Longmore and Lauri Umansky, eds., THE NEW DISABILITY HISTORY
Martha Nussbaum, FRONTIERS OF JUSTICE: DISABILITY, NATIONALITY, AND SPECIES MEMBERSHIP
Excerpts from (samples):
Douglas Baynton, FORBIDDEN SIGNS: AMERICAN CULTURE AND THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST SIGN LANGUAGE
Alice Wexler, THE WOMAN WHO WALKED INTO THE SEA
Martin S. Pernick, THE BLACK STORK: EUGENICS AND THE DEATH OF DEFECTIVE BABIES
Paul Longmore, WHY I BURNED MY BOOK
Anne Balsamo, TECHNOLOGIES OF THE GENDERED BODY
Terry Rowdan, THE SONGS OF BLIND FOLK: AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSICIANS AND THE CULTURES OF BLINDNESS
Susan Schweik, THE UGLY LAWS: DISABILITY IN PUBLIC
Lucy Grealy, AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A FACE
Charles Riley, DISABILITY AND MEDIA
Virginia Blum, FLESH WOUNDS: THE CULTURE OF COSMETIC SURGERY
Rosemarie Garland Thomson, FREAKERY: CULTURAL SPECTACLES OF THE EXTRAORDINARY BODY
Tom Boellstorff, COMING OF AGE IN SECOND LIFE: AN ANTHROPOLOGIST EXPLORES THE VIRTUALLY HUMAN
Emily Martin, BIPOLAR EXPEDITIONS: DEPRESSION AND MANIA IN AMERICAN CULTURE
Margaret Lock, TWICE DEAD: ORGAN TRANSPLANTS AND THE REINVENTION OF DEATH
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Examinations and Assignments:
This class will be discussion-based, and will require active participation. Students will also be required to: complete a short presentation and related essay (3-5 pages) on an assigned topic; complete a take-home midterm essay exam (open note and open book, 5-7 pages); and complete a final paper on a topic of their choice (15-20 pages). |
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