| Unit name | Anthropology of Disability and Difference |
|---|---|
| Unit code | ARCH30049 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | H/6 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
| Unit director | Dr. Hofer |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
None |
| Co-requisites |
None |
| School/department | Department of Anthropology and Archaeology |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
Disability is the ultimate form of difference that could affect anyone, at any time, regardless of gender, race, sexuality or age. And yet, how much have we thought about something that could affect us all? How much do we know about the empirical and theoretical implications of disability? This unit approaches disability not as a biological tragedy, but as a set of diverse experiences of being human, mediated and shaped socially, linguistically and politically. The unit pays particular attention to disability in the Global South.
The unit has the following aims:
1) to present a comprehensive overview of key debates in disability studies and work by anthropologists on disability;
2) to critically evaluate anthropological methods and theoretical approaches to disability;
3) to critically evaluate current theory and discourse within disability studies to advance anthropological understandings of disability.
Despite great leaps in interdisciplinary disability studies and anthropology’s claim to expertise in understanding and theorising alterity, there has been relatively little engagement with disability in core anthropology, except in the sub-discipline of medical anthropology. This unit explores existing works in social and medical anthropology and their unique approaches to studying disability within the wider context of disability studies and in particular in the Global South. Among the topics explored are cross-cultural research on disability; disability and multiple identities (i.e. the intersection of disability with race, ethnicity, class, gender and sexual orientation); ethnography as an underutilized method in the study of disability; anthropological theories applied to disability; critical interrogations of concepts such as stigma, anomaly, liminality, the normative gaze and others describing disabled people's experience and sociocultural responses to disability. We also discuss disability rights as a social movement and its successes and struggles worldwide, and historical and critical discourses on models of disability (e.g. moral, medical and the range of current socio-political and augmentative models). The unit ends on debates about bio-ethics and disability and looks to the future of the disability studies within anthropology.
On successful completion of this unit, students will be able to:
1 x 1 hour lecture per week
1 x 1 hour seminar per week
1 x 1 hour film screening or practical/workshop session per week
Summative assessment: Essay 1: 2000w essay (50% ILO, 1), Essay 2: 2000w essay (50% ILOs 2-4).
If this unit has a Resource List, you will normally find a link to it in the Blackboard area for the unit. Sometimes there will be a separate link for each weekly topic.
If you are unable to access a list through Blackboard, you can also find it via the Resource Lists homepage. Search for the list by the unit name or code (e.g. ARCH30049).
How much time the unit requires
Each credit equates to 10 hours of total student input. For example a 20 credit unit will take you 200 hours
of study to complete. Your total learning time is made up of contact time, directed learning tasks,
independent learning and assessment activity.
See the Faculty workload statement relating to this unit for more information.
Assessment
The Board of Examiners will consider all cases where students have failed or not completed the assessments required for credit.
The Board considers each student's outcomes across all the units which contribute to each year's programme of study. If you have self-certificated your absence from an
assessment, you will normally be required to complete it the next time it runs (this is usually in the next assessment period).
The Board of Examiners will take into account any extenuating circumstances and operates
within the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.
