SOAS China Institute Seminars

Seminars are free and open to the public; however registration is required.

Date: Monday 03 February 2020
Time: 5pm-6.30pm
Title: Disability in China: Citizenship, Identity and Culture
Speaker: Dr Sarah Dauncey (University of Nottingham)
Chair: Professor Steve Tsang (Director, SOAS China Institute)
Venue: Room G3, Main college building, SOAS, University of London, Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XG

Abstract
Who defines what it means to be ‘disabled’ in China today? In this talk, Sarah Dauncey looks at the construction of disabled identities specifically from the perspective of Chinese cultural epistemologies. Drawing on sociological theories of citizenship, her research reveals how traditionally accepted notions of personhood are often fundamentally challenged through encounters and interactions with understandings of disability and impairment. She provides engaging examples of the ways in which representations and narratives of disability negotiate the identity of their subject(s) in relation to dominant discourses, where collective social, political and cultural understandings of what it means to live a ‘productive’ disabled life are both imbued and contested. She proposes a new and exciting concept – para-citizenship – which provides a compelling framework for understanding the complex and shifting power relationships between disabled individuals and/or groups and the state in any particular country or specific cultural context.

Biography
Sarah Dauncey is Associate Professor in the School of Sociology and Social Policy at The University of Nottingham. Trained in classical and contemporary Chinese language, literature and social history, and with a PhD in late-Ming women’s culture from the University of Durham, Dr Dauncey has published extensively on gender, culture and identity in pre-modern and contemporary China. Most recently, she has pioneered a new field relating to disability in modern Chinese culture. The results of this project have resulted in numerous articles and book chapters, as well as forthcoming monograph Disability in China: Citizenship, Identity and Culture (Cambridge University Press).

Register here:
https://www.soas.ac.uk/china-institute/events/seminars/03feb2020-disability-in-china-citizenship-identity-and-culture.html


Find out more about our events here:
https://www.soas.ac.uk/china-institute/events/



Best wishes,

Kind regards,

Li-Sa Whittington
Executive Officer, SOAS China Institute
SOAS, University of London
Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XG

Tel:  +44 (0)20 7898 4823   Email: [log in to unmask]       
Web: www.soas.ac.uk/china-institute/

Office Hours: Monday, Wednesday and Thursday (0930-1600)

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