Hi
Both Mark And Mairian have so very eloquently expressed the very significant
aspects of struggle of disability with other inequalities in social
structures. While it is true that unlike Mairian, I will also have to wonder
not only about the rference, but also address myself to the issue of
acquiring the book. I am using this illustration more as a metaphor to
explain the multiple issues that confront the context that I am in and many
others who are marginalised in many other parts of the world. I guess the
most important question really is , How do we address these inequalities?.
To my mind recognising them and sharing them at a platform like this list
and possibly meetings suchas SDSmightbe the firststep .However I continue to
grapple with the issue while raising level of my own consciousnesss in the
endeavour to fight the inequalities that are a part of human civilzations.
anita
-----Original Message-----
From: Mairian Corker <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Monday, October 11, 1999 6:58 PM
Subject: Re: (Fwd) disability in a global context
>Mark wrote:
>
>>I would agree with Anita that much of what passes for contemporary
>>disability studies does indeeed fail to address, or even acknowledge, the
>>socio-economic realities of disability in a global context. If we think
>>about disability issues in a global context then war, poverty and economic
>>survival are surely the most important issues, yet the contemporary
>>disability studies literature reflects a very different world, preoccupied
>>with privileged perspectives on reflexive identity and cultural
iconography.
>
>I think that in some parts of the world, reflexive identity and cultural
>iconography might actually be more important, as would issues of
>individualism and collectivism which are often homogenised in Western
>perspectives of the 'social', the 'cultural' and the 'economic'. Similarly,
>it wouldn't surprise me if there was a sense in which Western notions of
>disability studies that rest on materialism are finding it difficult to
>sustain themselves in the context of a changing social world and so they
>now turn their attention to cultures where pverty, war and economic
>survival are more relevant. To take your example of war, I do wonder if
>there is a sense in which we in the west, who have not experienced war
>directly for many years, project notions of war onto other parts of the
>world for whom it is a (not always unpalatable) part of situated practice
>and the making of peoples. In the west we can afford to fight war with
>words because of our affluence perhaps so there is an important sense in
>which poverty and culture are linked.
>>
>... (snip) few if any of these
>>accounts address issues of structural poverty or imperialism. There are of
>>course some exceptions (and Emma Stone's new edited book may be very
helpful
>>here).
>
>Reference?
>>
>>Where for example are the Western anthropologists' accounts of
>>disability issues on the streets of 1990s Nairobi, Johanesburg, Rio or
>>Delhi? The imperialist pre-occupation with searching out idealised
>>notions of the 'authentic' culture of poorer countries only serves to
>>obscure the real relationship between post-colonialism and the
>>majority world. Moreover, it fails to recognise that the majority world
>>exists in richer countries too.
>
>I wonder if this is an old-fashioned, and perhaps rather unfair view of
>anthropology. It may well be true that anthropology has neglected the 1990s
>'disability' experience in other cultures, but only in the sense that
>disability is marginalised within anthropology in the same way that it is
>marginalised in many other disciplines. However, contemporary anthropology
>has sought to move away from idelaised notions of 'authetic' culture and
>from imperialist notions of the researcher/author.
>>
>>Take the US for example...For me, one of the most lasting images of
>>SDS meetings in American cities, has been the number black
>>disabled people begging on the streets.
>
>This is an important point and one with which I totally agree - it hit me
>too, particularly in the supposedly cosmopolitan city of San Francisco, but
>there I also noticed how many white disabled people were out on the streets
>going about their everyday business going to work, shopping and so on - far
>more than I ever see on the streets of London. It seems that the rich-poor
>divide also splits the disabled population. However, I agree with your
>critique of Carol's comments/statistics. So often representation is nothing
>more than tokenism and honourable mentions (how many of those papers at SDS
>devoted more than two minutes of time to the disabled Other), and it
>doesn't 'address the underlying issues of power and oppression that give
>rise to under-representation in the first place.' This is because all the
>onus is placed on the representative to explain themselves usually to cries
>of 'oh that's really interesting, but ...'
>
>I don't know why we have to be so defensive and to pretend that we are
>'really nice guys/gals' as if that will solve anything anyway. As a white
>disabled woman I have no argument with the idea that I am part of the
>institutionalised structures and cultures that create the oppression of
>black disabled people in spite of my 'friendships' with individual black
>and black disabled people.
>
>But in the academy, there is yet another hidden danger and that is that
>there is a huge gulf between talk/intent and practice. I've met many people
>who write wonderful books that say all the right things, but treat me and
>other disabled people like shit! If we are unable to address that in
>relation to disabled/non-disabled - and I think we avoid the issue of power
>- I don't hold out much hope in relation to the other 'isms' because
>hierarchies are also institutionalised in the disability movement and
>disability studies. The fact that we put disability at the top doesn't
>change anything in relation to social inequality. Surely the first step is
>to accept that inequality is there, and then do something about it.
>
>Best wishes
>
>
>Mairian
>
>
>
>
>
>Mairian Corker
>Senior Research Fellow in Deaf and Disability Studies
>Department of Education Studies
>University of Central Lancashire
>Preston PR1 2HE
>
>Fax +44 [0]870 0553967
>email: [log in to unmask]
>
>
>
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