CALL FOR PAPERS> Buddhism and Disability Studies, AAR 2019

Justin Fifield Discussion

Dear all,

I am organizing a panel at the upcoming 2019 AAR General Meeting in San Diego on the topic of "Buddhism and Disability Studies" (more catchy name TBD).

If you are working in this area and are interested in submitting a paper proposal, please email me at justin.fifield@trincoll.edu. The CFP description is below. Any topic, geographical area, and time period that addresses an aspect of disability--physical or cognitive impairment, social construction/treatment of those with variable bodies, bodily non-normativity, chronic illness, etc.--is welcome.

The goal of this panel is to increase the engagement between Buddhist Studies and Disability Studies by bringing the topic of 'disability' and critical theory from Disability Studies into the "mainstream" study of Buddhist traditions. The prompt in the CFP to incorporate theory from Disability Studies is meant to push the papers beyond speaking at the level of representation to question structures of power and inequality, the social construction of disability, and oppressive systems of bodily normativity (in alliance and dialog with feminist theory, critical race theory, and critical animal studies).

If you have a paper idea, but are not familiar with Disability Studies theory, I am happy to work with you to incorporate that framing and approach into the paper.

Please email me with any questions or ideas!

Thank you!

● Buddhism and Disability Studies, Contact: Justin Fifield (Trinity College): justin.fifield@trincoll.edu -Disability Studies was founded on a critical intervention into the biomedicalization of bodily impairment, setting forth a social model of disability that could overturn oppressive conditions for the disabled. A coalitional intersectionality with feminism, critical race theory, Queer Studies, and Animal Studies has pushed the field beyond the social model into exciting new areas, such as epistemology—what is now called cripistemology— postcolonial studies, critical culture studies, and a new historicism that looks beyond representation to chart how the disabled body has historically structured knowledge systems about all bodies. This panel aims to cultivate a needed and overdue engagement between Disability Studies and Buddhist Studies. It calls for papers on Buddhism and disability from a variety of historical, social, and cultural perspectives. Papers should explicitly engage with theory from Disability Studies and, ideally, a political program of overturning systems of oppression, in line with the AAR’s 2019 presidential theme of scholarly engagement in public spheres.

Best,

Justin

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Justin Fifield, Ph.D.

Visiting Assistant Professor

Trinity College

justin.fifield@trincoll.edu