Diminished faculties : a political phenomenology of impairment

Author:

Sterne, Jonathan, 1970-

Format:

Book

Language:

English

Imprint:

Durham : Duke University Press, 2021 and ©2021

Subject:

Sociology of disability
Disabilities - Philosophy
Disabilities - Social aspects
Voice disorders
Phenomenology

ISBN:

9781478015086, 147801508X, 9781478017707, and 1478017708

Description:

293 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Bibliographic Note:

Includes bibliographical references and index

Contents:

Degrees of muteness -- Meet the Dork-o-phone -- In search of new vocalities : an imaginary exhibition -- Audile scarification : on normal impairments -- There are never enough spoons -- Impairment theory : a user's guide

Summary:

"In Diminished Faculties Jonathan Sterne offers a sweeping cultural study and theorization of impairment. Drawing on his personal history with thyroid cancer and a paralyzed vocal cord, Sterne undertakes a political phenomenology of impairment in which experience is understood from the standpoint of a subject that is not fully able to account for itself. He conceives of impairment as a fundamental dimension of human experience, examining it as both political and physical. While some impairments are enshrined as normal in international standards, others are treated as causes or effects of illness or disability. Alongside his fractured account of experience, Sterne provides a tour of alternative vocal technologies and practices; a study of "normal" hearing loss as a cultural practice rather than a medical problem; and an intertwined history and phenomenology of fatigue that follows the concept as it careens from people, to materials science, to industrial management, to spoons. Sterne demonstrates how impairment is a problem, opportunity, and occasion for approaching larger questions about disability, subjectivity, power, technology, and experience in new ways. Diminished Faculties ends with a practical user's guide to impairment theory"-- Provided by publisher

Collection:

BGC Monograph Stacks

Call Number:

HV1568 .S698 2021

Available

c.1

Course Name:

Americana Redux: Materializing Multiculturalism in the Postwar United States. BGC Spring 2022

Instructor:

Whalen, Catherine