Feminist Disability Studies [6-weeks, $250 Suggested]
***This class is sold out, but interested students can audit this course asynchronously.
Instructor: Madden | Thursdays March 17-April 21 | 6:00-8:00 PM ET
Disabled people are regularly imagined out of the future. As Alison Kafer explains, the so-called "good life" and ideas about "better futures" are marked by the absence of, or at least a reduction in, disability. But in this class, we'll hold tight to what is, for some, the generative content of disability, and we'll remember that disability and illness are a fact of the human condition. At the same time, another of our guiding purposes will be to challenge ableism and the practice of, for instance, denying health care and creating unsafe working conditions.
The class begins with an introduction to the interdiscipline of feminist disability studies and then each of the remaining 5 weeks are organized around a keyword: language, work, time, citizenship, and liberation. For instance, when we study "language," we'll reflect on Sunaura Taylor's practice of thinking together disability justice and justice for non-human animals. When we study "work," we'll wrestle with Marta Russell's reading of Marxism and her argument that disability is "a product of the exploitative economic structure of capitalist society; one that creates the so-called 'disabled body' to permit a small capitalist class to create the economic conditions necessary to accumulate vast wealth." And when we study "time," we'll examine and critique a range of imagined futures that exclude disability, that construct narrow visions of "the good life," and promote limited rhetorics of self-improvement. Our course materials include a variety of productions from various genres--including theory texts, accounts of personal experience, visual culture, and materials produced by activists involved in direct action strategies.
We depend on a mix of direct student donations and supplemental donations to make all classes pay-what-you-can. Please pick the pricing tier that corresponds with your needs and that you are able to pay now. If you would like to pay in installments, make your first payment now and make a note on your check-out form. If you would like to donate more later in the term, you can always come back and use the “Make a One Time Donation” button! To use a full scholarship, just pick the $3 tier to cover site/processor fees.
If at any point up to 48 hours before your first class session you realize you will be unable to take the class, we will work with you to reallocate your funds to a future class, to another student’s scholarship, or refund it. After classes begin, we are only able to make partial refunds and adjustments.