This book chapter is part of an important text within Canadian Disability Studies. Rethinking Normalcy: a disability studies reader edited by Tanya Titchkosky and Rod Michalko (2009). This is the first Canadian disability studies reader from a variety of interdisciplinary perspectives and draws on primary Canadian but also some international scholars. The critical perspectives in this book examine not only dominant views of disability but interrogate what is meant by normal. The specific chapter makes clear that different bodies, in different spaces engage in the world in various ways that are not seen as “normal” by abled-bodied conventions but are usual to those who see themselves as … [Read more...] about Karen Yoshida – The normality of doing things differently – 30DoS #17
Birgitte Ahlsen – The wounded storyteller – 30DoS #16
The wounded storyteller (1995/2013) has a strong position within the field of illness and health. In this book, Frank introduces the “remission society” concept, whose members include those who may be medically “cured” from illness, but “share the worries and daily triumph of staying well”. Drawing on Susan Sontag’s metaphor of two kingdoms; that of the well and that of the sick, the members of the remission society, Frank writes, are in between or secretly hidden among the healthy. Frank claims that their illness stories are more than accounts of personal suffering; they contain moral choices and social ethics. The book is perhaps most famous for the three typologies of illness narratives … [Read more...] about Birgitte Ahlsen – The wounded storyteller – 30DoS #16
Dave Nicholls – Discipline and punish – 30DoS #15
Discipline and Punish (1975) was Michel Foucault’s sixth book and it defined Foucault’s approach to what was called the history of ideas. D&P is concerned with the ways we have learnt – over many centuries – to govern people so that they do what we want without force. The book was hugely influential for historians, sociologists and philosophers and influenced a generation of critical thinkers in areas as diverse as architecture, health care and public policy. I first came across D&P when I was reading Foucault’s work for my PhD. Foucault’s explanations of the ways we have learnt to discipline our conduct to make people docile and compliant (especially observation and surveillance, … [Read more...] about Dave Nicholls – Discipline and punish – 30DoS #15