EGL 273 - Disability, Literature, and Society

Course Units: 1

Through close reading and analysis of literary and cultural representations of disability, this course provides an introduction to the interdisciplinary field of disability studies. We will take the social model perspective that the experience of a disability is shaped less by physical or intellectual difference than by social attitudes and material barriers to access as a point of departure. All of the texts we will discuss this term represent disability in one way or another, some more centrally than others. On the one hand, we will catalogue the ways that literary texts create and disseminate damaging cultural narratives about disabled individuals. On the other, we will consider how various artistic works can resist dominant cultural representations of disability and challenge deep-seated ideals of physical and cognitive normalcy. Prerequisite(s): One 100-level English course or a score of 5 on the AP English Language or Literature and Composition test.

CC: JLIT, WAC