Disability History, Objects & Heritage
Call For Abstracts
This conference seeks to highlight the work of researchers who are investigating object-based histories of disability and/or the place of disability and disabled people in museums, archives and heritage institutions. The experiences and histories of disabled people, like other marginalised groups, are often absent from the museum or archive. However, due to disabled people’s unique relation to the material world (Ott, 2018), objects can be drawn upon by the heritage industry to bring disabled people and their narratives into the public consciousness.
We hope to create spaces to foster further discussion around these topics, alongside presenting these ideas and methodologies to those not within the study of disability or disability history. Ideally, talks will be orientated both towards those within the academic and heritage sectors, promoting further work between the two. We are particularly keen to highlight work being undertaken by PGRs.
We welcome abstracts and expressions of interest from all who would like to take part in this conference as a speaker.
Topics Might Include
- Absence/invisibility of disability in museums and archives
- Objects and material culture of disability
- Highlighting disability in existing archives and collections
- Methodologies in the study of disability history
- How we interpret disability historically / the ethics of display
- Democratising disability heritage / barriers to access in academia and heritage
- Activism and museums / Heritage as a site of activism
- Disability in art and heritage
- Changing language and terminology of disability / tackling offensive language in the archive
- Disability and other intersectional identities and histories
- Problematic commemoration of disabled people / historical ’supercrips‘
Submitting an Abstract
Abstracts should be a maximum 200 words, and clearly outline the premise of your proposed 20 minute paper. Please also provide:
- your full name
- a short biography (Maximum 100 words)
- an email address that we can contact you on.
Please submit your abstract to underrephistory22@gmail.com by 23:59 (GMT) on Friday 21st January 2022.
Please note, to ensure accessibility, successful speakers will be contacted to explain any terminology that may need to be explained for BSL translators. For any further accessibility details for speakers, please contact underrephistory22@gmail.com.
