Simon Fraser University
Engaging the World

Course Outlines

Spring 2021 - GSWS 315 E100

Critical Disability Studies (4)

Class Number: 7069

Delivery Method: In Person

Overview

  • Course Times + Location:

    Jan 11 – Apr 16, 2021: Wed, 5:30–9:20 p.m.
    Burnaby

  • Prerequisites:

    15 units.

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

Explores interdisciplinary perspectives on the concept and experience of disability; situates disability as a formation of identity and power that differently intersects with gender, race, sexuality, nationality, and class; addresses disability as a key aspect of lived experience and a global vector of oppression and resistance. Students with credit for GSWS 321 Special Topic under the title Critical Disability Studies may not take this course for further credit.

COURSE DETAILS:

This course will introduce students to key questions and debates in the interdisciplinary field of disability studies. Drawing from a range of texts and media, we will explore the social, political, and representational dimensions of disability. Throughout, we will attend closely to the ways that the category and experience of disability differently intersects with formations of gender, race, sexuality, nationality, and class.

Some questions that we will explore include: How and why do minds and bodies get categorized as “normal” or “abnormal,” and what is at stake in these definitions? What is the relation between our bodies and their environments – from the buildings we live in to the air we breathe? How do technologies—prosthetics, pharmaceuticals, and amniocentesis—force us to reconsider what it means to be human? How do people with disabilities negotiate sexual desires and identities? In what ways has mental and physical difference been disciplined through institutions such as asylums, prisons, and schools? And, how do performances of disability in art, activism, or biomedicine reinforce or reimagine cultural categories of ability?

 

COURSE-LEVEL EDUCATIONAL GOALS:

For more detailed information please see the GSWS website: http://www.sfu.ca/gsws/undergraduate/courses/Educational_Goals.html

Grading

  • Weekly Modules (includes online discussion component, options for synchronous and asynchronous participation) 20%
  • Accessibility Checklist 15%
  • Audio Description Project 30%
  • Disability and Representation Paper 15%
  • Final Project (2 Short Reflection Papers, 1 Research Paper, Audio Description, or Creative/Community Piece) 20%

NOTES:

  • Lecture materials will be recorded and available on canvas.
  • Weekly lectures and discussions will take place online and will include asynchronous and synchronous components. Attendance at synchronous online components (via Zoom) for 1 to 2 hours on Wednesdays from 6-8pm is encouraged, but not required. Recordings of these sessions will be made available on canvas.

Materials

REQUIRED READING:

  • Clem Martini and Olivier Martini, 2010, Bitter Medicine: A Graphic Memoir of Mental Illness
  • J. Withers, 2012, Disability Politics & Theory
  • Eli Clare, Exile and Pride: Disability, Queerness, and Liberation(2015 edition, Duke University Press)

 


RECOMMENDED READING:

  • Ellen Samuels, 2014, Fantasies of Identification: Disability, Gender, Race.
  • Alison Kafer, 2013,Feminist, Queer, Crip.

Registrar Notes:

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: YOUR WORK, YOUR SUCCESS

SFU’s Academic Integrity web site http://www.sfu.ca/students/academicintegrity.html is filled with information on what is meant by academic dishonesty, where you can find resources to help with your studies and the consequences of cheating.  Check out the site for more information and videos that help explain the issues in plain English.

Each student is responsible for his or her conduct as it affects the University community.  Academic dishonesty, in whatever form, is ultimately destructive of the values of the University. Furthermore, it is unfair and discouraging to the majority of students who pursue their studies honestly. Scholarly integrity is required of all members of the University. http://www.sfu.ca/policies/gazette/student/s10-01.html

TEACHING AT SFU IN SPRING 2021

Teaching at SFU in spring 2021 will be conducted primarily through remote methods. There will be in-person course components in a few exceptional cases where this is fundamental to the educational goals of the course. Such course components will be clearly identified at registration, as will course components that will be “live” (synchronous) vs. at your own pace (asynchronous). Enrollment acknowledges that remote study may entail different modes of learning, interaction with your instructor, and ways of getting feedback on your work than may be the case for in-person classes. To ensure you can access all course materials, we recommend you have access to a computer with a microphone and camera, and the internet. In some cases your instructor may use Zoom or other means requiring a camera and microphone to invigilate exams. If proctoring software will be used, this will be confirmed in the first week of class.

Students with hidden or visible disabilities who believe they may need class or exam accommodations, including in the current context of remote learning, are encouraged to register with the SFU Centre for Accessible Learning (caladmin@sfu.ca or 778-782-3112).