Critical Disability Studies and Post Humanism

Course content

Modern societies have structured their daily routines and life based on canons and ideal models of being (able) and functioning. However, this notion of normality is nowadays  challenged by the relational interaction that able and disabled bodies are building with technology, animals and Other bodies or parts of them. The world therefore experiences what has been called a post human era.

How could disability be defined within a post human situation? How are disabled people engaged in the rapid developments of this era? What is the role of technology, animals, the environment and the being-human in the post-human definition of disability? This module aims to build some evidence that help the students to formulate and construct their own answers to these questions. 

In order to achieve this objective, a ‘sensorial’ approach based on exploring disability through the analysis of the role of and reflection on the senses will be presented. Therefore, movies, books, discussions and essays will be the channels to read, see, talk, discuss and write about disability in a post human era.

Learning outcomes

  A grasp of critical disability theory in relation to post humanism;

 A grasp of the main debates in the various fields;

 A grasp of the related methodological challenges in qualitative research;

 A grasp of the ‘body politics’ involved.

At the end of the module the students should have achieved the following:

2.3.1 Knowledge:

• A sound basis of critical theoretical perspectives on disabilities and post humanism;
• A sound basis of critical repertoire to ‘unpack’ theoretical and methodological perspectives;
• A sound basis for researching various empirical fields.

2.3.2 Academic skills

• Critically reflecting on theoretical debates;
• Critically evaluating intervention strategies;
• Critically writing of academic texts.

2.3.3 Interdisciplinary skills

• Intersectionality in post humanist theory;
• Intersectionality in qualitative research methodologies;
• Intersectionality in approaching the ‘ body politic’.

2.3.4 Engagement at the local and global levels

• Juxtaposing local realities with global challenges;
• Juxtaposing the distinction between the human and non-human animal;
• Juxtaposing diversities.

2.3.7 Personal and social responsibility

• Develop a playful attitude towards theories, methodologies and practices;
• Develop open spaces for intellectual discussions;
• Develop sensitivities towards the paradoxes of social and intellectual trends

Assessment

• Participation in  the group (discussions);
• Writing essays;
• (Group) presentations

Main Course Sources

(Parts of) Books

• Bourke, J. (2011) What it means to be human. Reflections from 1791 to the present, London: Virago;
• Braidotti, R. (in press) The post human, Cambridge: Polity Press;
• Davies, L. (1995) Enforcing normalcy. Disability, deafness and the body, London, New York: Verso
• Goode, D.  (1995) A world without words. The social construction of children born deaf and blind, Temple University Press.

Movie DVDs:

• Dolphin’s tale;
• Temple Grandin;
• Children of a lesser God;
• Hasta la Vista;
• Le Huitième Jour (The Eighth Day)