Disability Studies Caucus Launch Event
In concert with our conference theme of Care Feminisms, Crip Futures, we are excited to announce plans to launch a Disability Caucus of WGS South over the course of this academic year. This caucus is envisioned as a network to connect disabled scholars and scholars of disability studies throughout the southeastern region. Members of WGS South who are interested in serving as the inaugural chair of the Disability Caucus are invited to contact Hil Malatino (hmalatino@psu.edu).
To celebrate this launch, we will present a special virtual event on Wednesday, October 18 at 5:00 Eastern Time on Zoom at https://psu.zoom.us/j/95329948565.
This event will feature filmmaker Eloise Sherrid and painter Lauryn Welch, who will talk about their short film, The Body Is a House of Familiar Rooms (2021). Trailer available here.
This 10-minute magical-realist art film explores evolving understandings of disability, chronic pain, and caregiving dynamics within the romantic relationship between Lauryn and her partner Chris, who lives with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. Their experience raises the question, what happens when the body becomes unfamiliar?
Participants will watch the film ahead of time. A link to the film will be made available to WGS South members (past, present, and future) who RSVP to Lisa Johnson (johns232@uscupstate.edu).
After hearing from the filmmakers, participants will be invited to pose questions, offer comments, and discuss the personal and political implications of the film, the creative choices exhibited in its style, and its relationship to broader concerns in feminist disability studies regarding gender, disability, caregiving labor, diagnostic categories, cultural attitudes toward pain and pain medication, disability disclosures, disability identity, disability pride, disability justice, and disability movements in the U.S. and beyond. Additionally, some time may be reserved at the end for talking about establishing and building the Disability Caucus. What might this look like? What needs and interests might it serve?
This event is a chance to get to know each other and build a new conduit of connection and communication among disabled scholars and scholars of disability. This event is open to current, former, and future members of WGS South, as well as faculty and students on the campuses cosponsoring the WGS South 2024 Conference and the special events leading up to the conference (USC Upstate, Penn State, and Clemson). Thank you to this robust collective of institutions pulling together to make this year a landmark moment in the history of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies in the U.S. Southeast.
We are excited to meet new people and reconnect with old friends through these events. We look forward to hearing from you!
