MONASH UNIVERSITY FACULTY HANDBOOKS
Arts Undergraduate Handbook 1996
Published by Monash University
Clayton, Victoria 3168, Australia
Authorised by Academic Registrar, April 1996
ANY3650
The social construction of disabilities
D B Miller
8 points + 2 hours per week + Second semester + Clayton + Prerequisites:
ANY/COS/SCY second year or permission of department head
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 `mentally retarded' and the `deaf'.
Assessment Essay (2000 words): 40% + Essay (4000 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 SJ 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
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