Time Schedule:
Kristina R. Knoll
WOMEN 290
Seattle Campus
Exploration of specific problems and issues relevant to the study of women. Offered by visiting or resident faculty members.
Class description
WOMEN 290, Summer 2004 Feminism and Disability Studies
Course description
This introductory survey course will address the intersecting topics of Women Studies with the emerging field of Disability Studies, which looks at the social stigma of disability, the power dynamics of ability, and disability as difference. We will briefly review several of the key conversations occurring amongst Feminist Disability scholars, as well as points of juncture and dis-juncture between Women Studies and Disability Studies.
Course Concepts & Goals
How has our “medical model”/medicalized-culture influenced your understanding of your body, mind, emotions, sexuality, and relationship to others? What is able-bodied privilege, and how have norms around abilities situated women, persons of various ethnicities, sexualities, and disabilities as the Other? What are the political ramifications of creating such binaries? Who has power and who does not, and why?
By the end of the quarter you should be able to answer the following: 1. In what ways have women’s bodies, minds, and emotions been pathologized? 2. How does this tie into disability and the Disability Studies perspective? 3. How does the pathologization of persons with disabilities fuel able-bodied privilege/ableism? 4. How does the pathologization of women’s bodies fuel male-privilege/sexism? 5. In what ways are (or have been) ableism and sexism interconnected? 6. In what ways is ableism interconnected with racism, classism, ageism, and homophobia?
Student learning goals
General method of instruction
Recommended preparation
Introduction to Women Studies; Introduction to Disability Studies; suggested, but not required.
Class assignments and grading
