Disability Narratives 3700-AL-DN-OG

This course attempts to focus on the narrative constructions of disability in contemporary literature and culture. It is divided into four parts. The first part interrogates the implications of narrativising disability in literary texts and cultural discourses. It offers insights into the established disability theory as well as new developments in the field. The second part of the course discusses cultural narratives and stereotypes about disability, such as disability as trauma, deviance, or inspiration, and look into the ways in which contemporary literary and genre fiction reinforces and subverts these stereotypes. While the first two sections discuss the various ways in which disability has been consistently objectified in cultural and literary discourses, the third part shows how disabled writers reframe these objectivising metanarratives by offering their own accounts of the experience of impairment as well as barriers that disable them in social spaces. This section, therefore, discusses various forms of first-person disability life writing. In the final section of the course, the students will be asked to submit their end of term projects, which will be discussed in the classroom. The course will be taught in the form of in-class discussions based on selected theoretical readings, essays, short stories, podcasts, and one unabridged novel. This wide range of cultural texts is to account for the various ways in which disability has been narratively constructed and to create a platform for the students to discuss how these cultural narratives can be countered or revised. This course involves a prominent self-study component, including two types of assignments: 1) reading: theoretical and literary texts (as discussed above); 2) writing: end of term project (in the form of essay, report, or video presentation, etc), including in-class presentation of the projects’ outcomes.

Type of course

general courses

Prerequisites (description)

Students with a good command of English (B2 or better), as well as basic knowledge in English and related literature are welcome to enrol. The course involves a number of selected readings and a writing assignment students must be prepared to find time for self-study.

Course coordinators

Paweł Wojtas

Learning outcomes

Knowledge: the graduate student
K_W01 is familiar with basic terms used in the humanities and understands the cultural role of these terms
K_W05 is familiar with basic methods of analysis and interpretation of cultural texts and works of art
K_W06 is familiar with basic trends and concepts in the humanities (specifically, literary and cultural theory)
K_W07 is familiar with key interdisciplinary research methods
Skills: the graduate student knows how to
K_U02 analyse artworks, scholarly publications, and source texts using specific research methods
K_U03 formulate a research problem
K_U04 recognise and interpret basic problems and phenomena of the modern world
K_U06 demonstrate the results obtained through individual work and teamwork
K_U07 complete basic research assignments in writing

K_U08 create and complete performative tasks
K_U09 communicate in a foreign language at the intermediate level
K_U10 prepare a speech for a target audience
Social competencies: the graduate student
K_K01 is prepared to foster lifelong learning
K_K02 knows how to work in teams
K_K03 is willing to explore new research methods
K_K04 knows how to use various resources for specific purposes
K_K05 knows how to independently assign tasks
K_K07 is tolerant and respectful of cultural diversity

Assessment criteria

Assessment is based on attendance (up to two absences allowed; absences 3-4 must be certified and/or made up; absences 5 and over result in failure to pass the course), in-class performance, and timely submission of an end-of-term project (in the form of essay, report, or video presentation, etc).

Submission of an end-of-term project (in the form of essay, report, or video presentation, etc). The assignment should be up to 1500 words in length (or equivalent, if prepared otherwise than in writing).

Bibliography

Barker, Clare, and Stuart Murray. The Cambridge Companion to Literature and Disability. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 2018.
Bonnello, Chris. Underdogs. London: Unbound, 2019.
Bolt, David. Metanarratives of Disability: Culture, Assumed Authority, and the Normative Social Order. Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2021.
Catapano, Peter, and Rosemarie Garland-Thomson. About Us: Essays from the Disability Series of the New York Times. New York: Liveright Publishing Corporation, 2021.
Couser, G. T. Signifying Bodies: Disability in Contemporary Life Writing. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2010.
Davis, Lennard J. Enforcing Normalcy: Disability, Deafness, and the Body. London: Verso, 1995.
Davis, Lennard J. The End of Normal Identity in a Biocultural Era. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 2022.
Davis, Lennard J. The Disability Studies Reader. 5th ed. New York, NY: Routledge, 2017.
Garland-Thomson, Rosemarie. Extraordinary Bodies: Figuring Physical Disability in American Culture and Literature. New York: Columbia University Press, 2017.
Hall, Alice. Literature and Disability, 2016.
Hall, Alice. The Routledge Companion to Literature and Disability. London: Routledge, 2020.
Mitchell, David T., and Sharon L. Snyder. Narrative Prosthesis: Disability and the Dependencies of Discourse. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 2011.
Mitchell, David T., and Sharon L. Snyder. The Biopolitics of Disability: Neoliberalism, Ablenationalism, and Peripheral Embodiment. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2018.
Mitchell, David T., Susan Antebi, and Sharon L. Snyder. The Matter of Disability: Materiality, Biopolitics, Crip Affect. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2019.
Shakespeare, Tom. Selected audio essays from The Point of View BBC Radio 4 Podcast. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qng8/episodes/downloads.
Wong, Alice. Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century. New York: Vintage Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, 2020.

Additional information

Information on level of this course, year of study and semester when the course unit is delivered, types and amount of class hours - can be found in course structure diagrams of apropriate study programmes. This course is related to the following study programmes:

Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system:

Description of 3700-AL-DN-OG in USOSweb