Critical Divides: Judith Butler's Body Theory and the Question of Disability

Samuels, Ellen

doi:10.1353/nwsa.2003.0014

Cited by 11 publications

(15 citation statements)

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“…Així, serà també pertinent preguntar: Quin és el lloc de la no-norma, és a dir, dels cossos no normatius, si és que n'hi ha? Amb la voluntat de fer lloc a aquestes existències no-normatives i en una línia similar a les intervencions butlerianes, E. Samuels (2001), des del camp dels Disability Studies, posa èmfasi en la necessitat de construir models teòrics alliberadors que ens permetin entendre les identitats materials per veure quines són les matrius socials que les fan esdevenir (2001: 59). I aquest argument és d'especial interès atès que conceptes com la norma, la capacitació i la salut, entre d'altres discursos productius, es llegeixen com a construccions que obeeixen a processos històrics (i no pas com a restriccions biològiques), a partir de les quals es determina el model del cos normatiu, cosa que possibilita una resignificació productiva en l'estudi de la construcció de les corporalitats.…”

Section: Cos Corporalització I Normaunclassified

La Construcció De Les Corporalitats a Infinite Jest: De L’estètica De L’assemblage a La Transcorporalitat.

Ordeig

2019

AFL

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RESUMEl present article examina les representacions corporals en la novel·la Infinite Jest (David Foster Wallace, 1996) amb la guia d'algunes preguntes. Quina és la concepció ontològica del cos que es sosté en la novel·la? Quin és el paradigma relacional que des d'aquí es proposa? L'article s'obre amb l'anàlisi de la presència d'algunes corporalitats considerades no normatives i la seva construcció -en primer lloc, els cossos malalts i discapacitats-, des dels principis de l'estètica de l'assemblage, de costat amb el dispositiu narratiu de la novel·la. Més endavant, s'estudiaran alguns casos individuals amb l'objectiu de contrastar la hipòtesi segons la qual el que hi ha en joc en l'obra és la reescriptura de la concepció tradicional de la corporalitat, concebuda com a hermètica, autosuficient i sostinguda en els límits de la individualitat. Per reforçar aquesta idea es posarà especial èmfasi en la relació amb els altres cossos i, particularment, amb les substàncies additives: aquestes darreres permetran l'aproximació a la idea de transcorporalitat, que es manifesta com a expressió superlativa del rebuig a la forma unitària i tancada del cos. ABSTRACTThis paper examines representations of the body in the novel Infinite Jest (David Foster Wallace, 1996) and poses some initial questions: What is the ontological conception of the body that the novel builds on? What is the relational paradigm it offers? This paper will first analyse the construction of ill, abnormal and disabled bodies, drawing on the notion of assemblage, and will link them to the narrative structure of the novel. Further on, a number of individual cases will be studied in depth in order to demonstrate that what is at stake in the novel is rewriting of the traditional understanding of the body, conceived as hermetic, self-sufficient and confined to the limits of individuality. To prove that, the paper will centre on the relationship with other bodies and, particularly, on the addictive substances; the focus on the latter will open up a reflection on trans-corporeality, understood as a rejection of a hermetic and unitary model of the body.

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Section: Cos Corporalització I Normaunclassified

La Construcció De Les Corporalitats a Infinite Jest: De L’estètica De L’assemblage a La Transcorporalitat.

Ordeig

2019

AFL

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“…Nevertheless, Butler's work offers little recognition of the specificity of disability itself. As Ellen Samuels has emphasized (Samuels ), Butler's work obscures the differences between disability and other categories of identity. This lack of specificity limits the utility of her work in recognizing disabled kinship performances that may not be legible in normative terms.…”

Section: Queering Kinship Through Judith Butler's Antigone's Claimmentioning

confidence: 99%

My Two Moms: Disability, Queer Kinship, and the Maternal Subject

Braswell¹

2015

Hypatia

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Dominant Western discourses of motherhood have depicted disabled women as incapable of being mothers. In contrast to these representations, recent literature in disability studies has argued that disabled women can provide maternal care and should therefore retain custody over their children. This literature is commendable, but its emphasis on custodial rights excludes from the category of “mother” those disabled women who cannot maintain child custody. In this article, I challenge this exclusion via an account of my experience with my two mothers: my biological mother, who relinquished custody over me because of her inability to provide care, and my maternal grandmother, who raised me as her child. Theorizing this account, I argue that disability studies must adopt a conception of motherhood that recognizes both alternative kinship structures and mothers whose disabilities preclude them from fulfilling normative conceptions of maternal care. I develop such a conception by synthesizing Judith Butler's theorization of queer kinship with Donald Winnicott's rethinking of the maternal subject. I conclude by drawing on this flexible conception of motherhood to argue that my disabled mother's relinquishing of custody over me to her own mother was the very gesture in which she accepted and adopted a maternal role.

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“…Disability is both a lens to examine cultural artifacts and social phenomena and a specific embodiment and minority identity. Quayson (2007) explains "Disability might also be productively thought of as being on a continuum with the sublime in terms of its oscillation between a pure abstraction and a set of material circumstances and conditions" (p. 23; see also Samuels, 2002). Significantly, many feminist definitions build on social model and Independent Living perspectives rather than dismantle them or downplay the tremendous material improvements achieved under those frameworks.…”

Section: Bridge One: From Daily Experiences To Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Re/moving care : making care accessible through the Ontario Direct Funding program

Kelly¹

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Critical Divides: Judith Butler's Body Theory and the Question of Disability

Cited by 11 publications

References 0 publications

La Construcció De Les Corporalitats a Infinite Jest: De L’estètica De L’assemblage a La Transcorporalitat.

La Construcció De Les Corporalitats a Infinite Jest: De L’estètica De L’assemblage a La Transcorporalitat.

My Two Moms: Disability, Queer Kinship, and the Maternal Subject

Re/moving care : making care accessible through the Ontario Direct Funding program

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