[Commlist] CfP: Embodied and socially constructed?: Dis/ability in media, law, and history

*Call for Papers*

*Embodied /and/ socially constructed?:  Dis/ability in media, law, and 
history*

**

We invite proposals for papers to be included in a symposium and an 
edited book entitled, /Embodied /and/socially constructed?:  Dis/ability 
in media, law, and history/*.* The symposium will be held at Suffolk 
University, Boston, from *July 29-31, 2020*.  We anticipate the 
anthology will publish at the beginning of 2021.

Whereas the older medical model of dis/ability saw people as physically, 
mentally, or otherwise lacking in ways that could be calculated as 
deficits, dis/abilities scholars now more broadly explore the variety of 
human bodies and their interactions with the social world.  The strong 
version of the social construction approach would say that bodily 
attributes are basically irrelevant, as their meanings will be 
determined entirely by ideologies.[1]  A strong version of embodiment 
theory, while not ignoring ideology, grounds its analysis almost 
entirely in the bodily senses and corporeality.[2]  Despite their shared 
rejection of the medical model, proponents of constructivist and 
embodiment theories have frequently disagreed on how to understand the 
relationship between bodies and society.

The fields of Media Studies, Critical Legal Studies, and History have 
been at the vanguard in exploring the intersectionality[3] of race, 
gender, class, etc., but, with notable exceptions, have not 
significantly theorized dis/ability.  For example, media studies 
scholars highlight subjectivity and affects, but have not considered how 
both are embodied experiences; legal scholars currently focus on whether 
dis/ability laws can or should be used to help solve problems related to 
supposedly distinct identities, such as race; while history has focused 
on dis/ability but without engaging meaningfully with Critical 
Disability Studies.  This symposium and book will bring together 
interdisciplinary and intersectional scholarship on the simultaneous 
social construction and embodiment of dis/abilities.  We will thus ask 
how Media Studies, Critical Legal Studies, and History can interrogate 
dis/abilities at the nexus of corporeality and meaning making. Using the 
term “dis/ability” highlights the spectrum of disabilities and abilities 
and rejects the assumption that abilities are the norm.[4]  Moreover, it 
acknowledges what a person can do rather than what one cannot.  Lastly, 
it sees dis/abilities as processes rather than permanent states.

We will accept novel arguments from one or more of the fields of Media 
Studies, Critical Legal Studies, and History that approach dis/ability 
within the framework of the debate between embodiment and social 
constructivist perspectives. Authors are especially encouraged to 
consider the intersectionality of dis/abilities with both other 
identities and other structures of power.  Some questions that papers 
might ask include the following:

  * How, when, and where do people realize they have dis/abilities?
  * How do dis/abilities function as lenses of experiences?
  * How does (or does not) dis/ability shape identity/selfhood?
  * How do social/civic institutions shape experiences of dis/ability?
  * To what extent do dis/abilities compare and contrast with race,
    gender, class, and so on, as categories or vantage points of analysis?
  * How is the representation and treatment of people with
    neurodiversity similar or dissimilar to that of persons with
    non-normative physical abilities?
  * How do cultural anxieties produced by the visibly disabled, people
    having imperceptible dis/abilities, and dis/ability as a concept
    compare and contrast with one another?

  * What are the costs and/or benefits for people with dis/abilities of
    drawing attention to non-normative bodily and mental attributes in
    their campaigns for equitable treatment?
  * Does considering pain to be both a physical experience and a site of
    meaning-making make it a particularly useful point of departure for
    analysis of dis/ability?

Regardless of an author’s topic, the editors will review all proposals 
and make selections based on quality and relevance to the project's 
underlying themes.  Both veterans of DisCrit theory and emerging 
scholars are encouraged to submit proposals.  Authors of accepted 
proposals will be expected to participate in the “/Embodied 
/and/ socially constructed?:  Dis/ability in media, law, and history/” 
symposium.  Symposium participants will provide a high-quality draft 
paper at the symposium, which will be read in advance by other attendees 
and thus not formally presented; provide constructive feedback on 
others’ papers during the symposium; and finalize polished book chapters 
shortly thereafter.  Participants in the symposium are rebuttably 
presumed to be accepted into the published book.

Interested contributors should note the following deadlines:

 1. _Friday, January 17^th , 2020_:  Send a 250-750-word abstract with a
    working title, biography or CV, and contact information to
    (mlee /at/ suffolk.edu) <mailto:(mlee /at/ suffolk.edu)>, placing “Symposium” in
    the header;

 2. _Friday, February 28^th  2020_:  The editors will notify
    contributors of their acceptance into the symposium;

 3. Wednesday, _July 8^th , 2020_: Final deadline to submit a
    5,000-7,500-word paper for peer review among symposium participants;

 4. _Thursday, July 9th-Tuesday, 28^th , 2020_: Read three to five
    drafts of other participants’ papers and prepare oral feedback;

 5. _Wednesday, July 29^th -Friday, July 31^st , 2020_: Symposium in
    Boston: Make a brief (5 minutes) presentation at the symposium then
    receive feedback from other participants and also discuss others'
    drafts;

 6. _Monday, August 3, 2020_:  Editors will confirm that papers have
    been accepted for publication;

 7. _Monday, August 24^th , 2020_:  Submit final 5,000-7,500-word book
    chapter for editing and publication.

Send inquiries and proposal submissions to Micky Lee, (mlee /at/ suffolk.edu) 
<mailto:(mlee /at/ suffolk.edu)>.

The symposium organizers/book editors:

Frank Rudy Cooper

William S. Boyd Professor of Law and Director, Program on Race, Gender, 
& Policing
University of Nevada, Las Vegas William S. Boyd School of Law

Micky Lee

Associate Professor and Director of Asian Studies Program

Communication, Journalism, and Media Department

Suffolk University, Boston

Pat Reeve

Chair and Associate Professor

History Department

Suffolk University, Boston

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