Call For Papers
~ Society for Disability Studies 19th Annual Conference ~
Disability Goes Public: Re-Imagining Policy/Protest/Possibilities
June 14th – 17th, 2006
Washington Plaza Hotel, Washington, DC
Co-sponsored by Gallaudet University and Gallaudet University Press Institute
At the beginning of the twenty-first century, Washington, DC, is a
quintessentially divided space. As the nation’s capital, this city
supposedly represents a unified national collectivity, but the city itself
is sharply divided by differences of race, class, language, national
origin, age, gender, sexuality, and disability. This city’s stark
contradictions are reflected in its demographic inequities: the elected
officials who congregate in Washington, DC, are largely wealthy
non-disabled white men, while the majority of those who live within the
borders of the District of Columbia are people of color, many of them
living in extreme poverty. Further, while Washington, DC, is a beautiful
city with expansive public spaces, it is also a city under surveillance,
circumscribed by police barricades and checkpoints. Indeed, while it is one
of the most physically accessible cities in the United States, it is also a
site where access and democracy have been circumscribed for far too many,
including other sovereign nation states whose public spaces have been
dramatically affected by imperialist economic, political, and social
policies shaped and enacted here. This complicated context makes Washington
DC an ideal location for a re-imagination of policy, protest, and future
possibilities. In order to affirm the possibility of more expansive,
diverse, and just “public” cultures, “Disability Goes Public” in 2006.
Washington, DC, has been a vital meeting ground for the public expression
of ideas and aspirations, where people have gathered to publicly protest
injustice and to help formulate empowering public policy. At Gallaudet
University, the Deaf community has “gone public” by expressing its place in
the civil rights struggle and demanding the full realization of its
aspirations and abilities. Likewise, grassroots activists in the Disability
Rights Movement have clambered up the steps of the Capitol to protest
inaccessible and inhospitable social structures. Feminists have protested
to claim sovereignty over their own bodies, contesting the public/private
dichotomy. AIDS activists have covered the grounds of the Mall with quilts
in commemoration and to demand assistance for those who have died from, and
those who are living with, this epidemic. People of Color and their allies
have also often marched to Washington, DC to protest the historical legacy
of disenfranchisement and discrimination.
Meeting in Washington, DC, allows us to redefine and re-appropriate the
term “public” in transformative and transgressive ways. SDS invites
community activists, artists, and scholars to submit proposals that engage
this idea of the “public” in a lively, critical, rigorous, and provocative
manner.
We welcome all creative and serious scholarship in disability studies,
including submissions based on the prompts below. We encourage work that
makes physical, sensory, and intellectual access an integral part of the
presentation. See Presentation Guidelines for Accessibility below.
Some questions you might consider in your proposal:
· What are the different ways in which the term “public” is defined,
described, delimited, debated, and defended in disability communities?
· How does public policy shape these debates we have within
disability communities (e.g. social welfare, transportation, homeland
security; education, disaster relief, etc.)
· How do disabled people mediate between the public/private spheres
and what are the implications of such mediations?
· What forms does privatization take in the lives of people with
disabilities in the US and abroad? What are the consequences? What kinds of
responses are called for?
· In what ways has our own history of protest shaped and reshaped
the notion of public? What have we learned from these protests?
· What role do grassroots communities play in reshaping public
space? How can academics and activists work together better on this front?
· In what ways do issues of multiple and intersecting privileges and
oppressions play a role in defining and/or demonstrating the lack of public
space for people of color with disabilities?
· In what ways do issues of class, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality
productively complicate binary notions of identity in order to re-imagine
transformative possibilities while reclaiming public space? How do these
categories operate to limit alliances across and within different groups?
How can they be mobilized in the service of forging alliances?
· How have different groups that are considered disabled publicly
expressed their identity? How are they similar and different from each other?
· How do different disciplinary, activist, or artistic
interpretations challenge our understanding of disability and the public?
This year we especially urge participants to form their own panels and
submit their materials as a group whenever possible. We hope that by
encouraging panel proposals, prospective participants will consider
creative ways to interpret and express the conference theme and collaborate
on issues of content, timing and technology to produce more accessible and
inclusive panels. We encourage more accomplished scholars and activists to
consider paneling-up with someone newer in the field in order to increase
opportunities for mentoring and networking. We also encourage diverse
panels that include community members, activists, and scholars from
different geographical and disciplinary locations. International presenters
are especially encouraged to participate. Panels can be submitted in
different formats that include paper presentations, poster sessions,
performances, video/DVD recordings, etc. Recognizing that some participants
may have limited opportunity to form panels, the program committee will
consider all individual proposals and assemble them into panels whenever
possible.
The deadline for proposals is December 1, 2005. Participants will be
notified of their acceptance by February 15, 2005. All abstracts will be
fully reviewed and scheduled by the 2005 SDS Program Committee: Because
SDS cannot accept all of the many excellent submissions it receives, we ask
those whose applications are chosen to commit to registering for the
conference. Cancellations, particularly at the last minute, deny others the
chance to share in their work. Please submit proposals electronically
using the form on the SDS website, emailing to: Susan Magasi at
<mailto:[log in to unmask]>[log in to unmask], and Joy Hammel at
<mailto:[log in to unmask]>[log in to unmask]
THE FULL CALL FOR PAPERS & SUBMISSION FORMS ARE AVAILABLE AT THE SOCIETY
FOR DISABILITY STUDIES WEBSITE:
http://www.uic.edu/orgs/sds/annualmeetings.html. Additional details on
conference registration and lodging will be posted by the end of October, 2005.
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