SOC 195-01 - Introductory Special Topic: Global Disabilities: Art, Architecture, and Activism

4 credits (Spring)

Cross-listed as: GWS 195-01 and THD 195-01. How are understandings of disability socially constructed? What does it mean to perform disability? Why do people use their bodies to protest? How do we use art and architecture to create social change? Is the experience of disability global or is it locally defined? While many countries maintain disability activist communities, rhetoric in the United States often discusses legal protections for people with disabilities as though it is the world’s best. However, our cultural understandings of disability and our political system often undermine the very rights of people with disabilities in the United States that we seek to protect. We will develop a comparison with Japan to highlight the ways in which understandings of disability are distinct, and is some ways more robust elsewhere. First-year students interested in this course will need to complete an application in addition to doing the normal registration process. The application materials are available at http://travel.global.grinnell.edu/ early in the fall semester. Students selected to participate in the Global Learning Program are required to pay a $400 participation fee (most other required travel expenses will be covered). This fee will be added to the student tuition bill and will be due by the first day of classes. If payment of this fee causes you financial concern, please contact Gretchen Zimmermann in the Financial Aid Office to discuss loan options to cover this additional cost of attendance.

Prerequisite: TUT-100 and application. Open to first-year students only.
Instructor: Oberin, Thomas, Wilke