Culture – Theory – Disability

... with the editors

1. Why a book on this subject?

Disability Studies is a thriving discourse within the humanities that provides important linkages between theories of the body, agency, cultural representation, and philosophy. In addressing the cultural construction of disability and normalcy, our book completes the traditional problematization of race, class, and gender in the field of Cultural Studies. It offers interdisciplinary discussions of theoretical approaches that both fields have employed to rethink the contentious nature-culture divide.

2. What relevance does this subject have in the current research debates?

This collection productively contributes to current concerns that are addressed within recent interdisciplinary formations such as Posthumanism, Affect Theory, New Materialisms, Art Theory, Media Theory, Body Theory, and Science & Technology Studies. Interested in the nexus between bodies, societies, and environments, we follow a perspective that combines and critically reflects on the strengths of both Cultural Studies and Disability Studies.

3. What new perspectives does your book open up?

»Culture – Theory – Disability« discusses scenes of disability in a wide range of cultural media – from blockbuster movies and popular literature, to autobiography, science fiction, performance art, medical case studies, photography, and music. By supplementing essays from prominent scholars in the field of Cultural Disability Studies with scholarly responses from across the humanities spectrum and the social sciences, innovative connections are encouraged and put to the practical and theoretical test.

4. Who would you preferably like to discuss your book with?

Scholars from different interdisciplinary backgrounds, students, political activists, policy makers, interested public

5. Your book in only one sentence:

»Culture – Theory – Disability« provides innovative discussions of dis/ability with recourse to a wide variety of cultural media and theoretical approaches.