MONASH UNIVERSITY FACULTY HANDBOOKS

Arts Graduate Handbook 1996

Authorised by Academic Registrar, April 1996

ASM4500

The social construction of disabilities

Don Miller

Synopsis The subject examines the discursive construction of `the disabled' in our society. After a brief survey of the perception and treatment of `disabilities' crossculturally and throughout Western history, the subject concentrates on the link between, on the one hand, the ideological construction of the `normal' and the `pathological' in current Western conceptions of humanity, and on the other, the demands of capitalist production for an `able-bodied' workforce. Two case studies will be examined in detail: the social construction and treatment of the `insane' and the `deaf'.

Assessment Two exercises (2000 words each): 20% each + Essay (5000 words): 60%

Recommended texts

• Crossley R and McDonald A Annie's coming out Penguin, 1980
• Foucault M Madness and civilization Vintage, 1973
• Foucault M The birth of the clinic Vintage, 1975
• Gould S J The mismeasure of man Penguin, 1984
• Lewis M Managing madness: Psychiatry and society in Australia 1788-1980 AGPS, 1988
• Porter R Mind-forg'd manacles Penguin, 1992
• Porter R (ed.) The Faber book of madness Faber and Faber, 1993
• Sacks O Seeing voices: A journey into the world of the deaf Picador, 1989
• Showalter E The female malady: Women, madness and English culture, 1830-1980 Virago, 1987