Hi All
Have been following this chain of emails with interest. Within
anthropology Okely discuss the term 'Gypsy': Okely J (1997) Some
political Consequences of Theories of Gypsy Ethnicity: The place of
the intellectual, in James A, Hockey A & Dawson A (eds) After Writing
Culture. Routledge: London
Interestingly she uses Barth's work on biological
basis for membership versus a cultural basis. I believe this paper
discuss how Okely's work has been used in Law Courts in Britian
where Gypsies have been pursuing cases of race descrimination
(watch out Jack Straw). This usage may have meaning in terms of the
recent discussions. I think the conclusion was that both biological
, cultural and self identification defintions were legitimate.
This type of case may also link to the recent discussions about
Mark's adverts for post for Disabled People. If the courts
conclusions were applied here - then medical, structuarl/material,
cultural and individiual definitions of 'Disabled' could be used as
the basis for those applying for these Job's. On that basis - it
would be interesting to find out if LD's claims to be cutlurally Deaf
(big D) (if I read him correctly) would enable him to be considered
an acceptable candidate for the post.
However, having said that on a theoretical level, I must also state
that I support Mairian's position which Lennard saw as contradictory.
At times it is important to play the political game pragmatically.
It seems to me logical for a Political grouping to choose figure
heads who's very presence impacts visually or verbally on the desired
audiance. Indeed this is another issue which Okely discusses in the
above article. She indicates that at first well meaning male
academics helped set up a political movement amongst gypsies - which
was totally led by men and thus ignored a gypsy tradition that women
(and I note she does homogenise gypsy culture a bit here) organise
political and conflict resolution activities. So I can understand
Mairian's concerns about who speaks for disabled people. In an ideal
world Lennards got some strong points but on an evereyday experience
level it doesn't seem to me to be the way political groups work.
Returninging to a theoretical vien, constantly on this
mailbase we see that difficulties arise when you pose the question
can that person or those people both be representative of and
represent the diverse groups and people who might be considered or
consider themselves 'disabled'.
This issue seems to be have dodged in the UK becasue weve been
working in the past with a very fixed materialist notion of
disablement - it appears to me that there are two roads open - the
Zola we are all disabled road (which could be good politics - every
change to benefit people with impairments - benefits another citzen
certainly works in terms of the work Ive been doing with children),
or something more nuanced which takes more account of social
relational and cultural contexts of impairment.
This issue of different experiences of disablement and negotiations
around impairment is something that myself and Mairian have had to
work out in a paper we hope to publish next year and I think it links
into Bill and Kevin's paper on the Disappearing Body. I think we
need to resolve issues around what bill and kevin call the sociology
of impairment if we are to make sense of peoples everyday lives.
This doesn't require us to be essentialist, rather it requires us to
understand that between the medical and social model lies a more
fluid sociology and anthropology which as Bill and Kevin argue can
help disability politics account for diversity.
I'm not sure anyone quite knows what this is yet and many fear that
the power brought with the social model at the moment may be lost.
However, I'm of the feeling that at the moment many people with
impairments don't identify with the social model or even as disabled.
I think that this will change once a more nuanced form of experience
based research emerges and they recognise themselves in the out puts
of this research - if this happens it may mean that the 'movement'
grows even stronger.
In the mean time, I may have made the point before that the left in
britain in the 1980's had continual infighting between different
factions. It would be sad to reproduce that type if conflict, in
terms of the I'm more disabled than you discourse which Lennard
seemed to desend into becasue, as we all know in the UK to our cost,
real people suffered (and some would say are still suffereing) at
the hands of nearly two decades of conservative decision making.
Cheers
John
Dr John M Davis
Department of Public Health Sciences/
Research Unit in Health and Behavioural Change
The University of Edinburgh
Medical School
Teviot Place
Edinburgh
EH8 9AG
tele 0131 650 3244/6197
fax 0131 650 6909
email [log in to unmask]
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