*2015 CHICAGO DISABILITY STUDIES CONFERENCE* *SOCIAL JUSTICE & DISABILITY* *March 13, 2015 *
A one-day interdisciplinary conference taking up the issues of power, disability, justice, and coalitions in Chicago, Illinois. Papers from outside disability studies are welcome.
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Understanding identity as multiple, shifting and contradictory has provided both possibilities and challenges for activism and scholarship, especially regarding social justice. A significant possibility, that is also a challenge, is the idea of forming coalitions as a way to work for increased social justice.
Disability has only recently been recognized as a subject position, in many ways emerging from sustained critical focus on class, sexuality, gender, race, nationality, and ethnicity. How does disability operate as a basis of group belonging? How does disability provide new possibilities for thinking and acting, theorizing and practicing social justice?
Coalitions are alliances forged by common purpose. However, the question of how to be a coalition is still very much at issue. Coalitions are often based upon shared experiences of oppression or marginalization. Feminist scholar Andrea Smith, however, has pointed to the importance of forming coalitions around shared experiences as oppressors, pointing to the separate but related “pillars of oppression.” In bringing together multiple constituencies and subject positions, how can just power relations be maintained? What are the politics of coalitions? For whom should a coalition exist, and when? What are the implications of refusing coalitional work?
We invite papers that are concerned with disability and social justice from a variety of perspectives. Topics including: intersectionality; policy; oppressed groups; disability & society; coalition; politics; praxis; and, power.
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*We invite scholars to consider these questions and others as they submit papers that address the theme of disability and social justice by January 16, 2015. Paper abstracts should be no more than 250 words. Submissions should also include contact information and institutional affiliation. This event will be free and open to the public.*
Submit abstracts to disstudiesstudentcouncil@gmail.com
Presented by UIC Disability Studies Student Council
