Desiring Disability: Queer Theory Meets Disability Studies by Teresa A. Meade


Desiring Disability: Queer Theory Meets Disability Studies
Title : Desiring Disability: Queer Theory Meets Disability Studies
Author :
Rating :
ISBN : 0822366533
ISBN-10 : 9780822366539
Language : English
Format Type : Paperback
Number of Pages : 272
Publication : First published December 22, 2005

In multiple locations, activists and scholars are mapping the intersections of queer theory and disability studies, moving issues of embodiment and desire to the center of cultural and political analyses. The two fields are premised on the idea that the categories of heterosexual/homosexual and able-bodied/disabled are historically and socially constructed. Desiring Disability: Queer Theory Meets Disability Studies explores how the frameworks for queer theory and disability studies suggest new possibilities for one another, for other identity-based frameworks of activism and scholarship, and for cultural studies in general.

Topics include the study of "crip theory" and queer/disabled performance artists; the historical emergence of normalcy and parallel notions of military fitness that require both the production and the containment of queerness and disability; and butch identity, transgressive sexual practices, and rheumatoid arthritis.

Contributors: Sarah E. Chinn, Eli Clare, Naomi Finkelstein, Catherine Lord, Cris Mayo, Robert McRuer, Todd Ramlow, Jo Rendell, Ellen Samuels, Carrie Sandahl, David Serlin, Patrick White


Desiring Disability: Queer Theory Meets Disability Studies Reviews


  • Colin

    Oh the nerdjoy of this book! I'm really excited about it. My favorite parts were a section outlining courses (with syllabi) for teaching various aspects of Disability history, an essay on images of Disabled folks on postage stamps (fascinating, though i wish it had been much longer and more critically in-depth), and of course--snick!-- the footnotes. Almost all of the essays held my interest. I only wish there had been more than a token representation of non-US perspectives and more essays by folks of color. I want my friends to read it so I can be an analytical Disability theory nerd in good company!