Desiring Disability: Queer Theory Meets Disability Studies

by Teresa A. Meade (editor), David Serlin (Editor), Natalia Molina (Contributor)

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

Genres: Disability, Nonfiction, History, Disability Studies

272 pages, Paperback

First published December 22, 2005

About the author

Teresa Meade is Florence B. Sherwood Professor of History and Culture at Union College in Schenectady, New York.

Reviews

[Colin · Rating 4 out of 5]

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!