Courses

Approximately 10%-15% of the world’s population is estimated to have a disability and this number is expected to rise in the next decades. Moreover, as the saying goes: everyone is just one accident away from disability. Although the potentials of the concept as a category of historical analysis are comparable to those of class, race, gender, sexuality and ethnicity; until recently, the history of people of disabilities has remained a rather neglected field and its promise to enrich and revise mainstream narratives on European history has not sufficiently been explored. This course responds to calls to bring disability from the margins to the center of historical inquiry. Rather than treating disability as merely a medical impairment, it will explore its historical and cultural variability.Unlike the overwhelming majority of academic accounts and courses which study the Anglophone world, this course will primarily focus on (continental) Europe, while also paying attention to global aspects. It is not restricted to one particular type of disability; instead, it historicizes the emergence of various categories and classifications. Topics will include disability and war, the Cold War, welfare, social movements and disability rights, culture and identity, the Deaf community, disability as a concern of global governance and global health. Special attention will be paid to regions that often remain peripheral in comprehensive studies, such as Eastern and Northern Europe. In doing so, the course seeks to reveal how the application of disability as an analytical tool can contribute to rethink the overall dynamics of European history.