American Studies 344 - History of Disabilities

This seminar serves as an exploration of the history of disability and the historical treatment of disabled people in the United States. In this course, collectively, we will begin to understand the evolution of the social construct of disability as a cultural, historical, and spatial phenomenon. Together, students investigate chronological and tropical themes such as: histories of medicine, science, and psychiatry, asylum, immigration, normalcy, eugenics, freak shows, and disability rights movement. Permission of the instructor required. Enrollment limited to 12.

Instructor Permission. Limited to juniors, seniors.