The Peace Studies – Disability Studies Nexus Society for Disability Studies Annual Meeting San Jose, CA June, 2011 Art Blaser, Ph.D., J.D.
Venn Diagram: Nexus of Peace Studies, Disability Studies
Peace Studies Justice Studies, World Order Studies – Positive Peace War and Peace Studies, Conflict Studies, Security Studies Allied Interdisciplines: Women’s Studies, Queer Studies, Ethnic Studies, International (Global) Studies, Genocide Studies, Environmental Studies, Futures Studies, others
Disability Studies Evolution of the field Role of impairment, enhancement, disablement Contributions of various disciplines: sociology, history, political science, anthropology, literature, education, performing arts, others
Some Publications Peace Studies – Peace and Change – Journal of Peace Research – Journal of Peace Education, others Disability Studies – Disability Studies Quarterly – Disability and Society – Review of Disability Studies, others
Common Characteristics Challenging debate on definition of the field Distrust of hierarchy Value explicit Futures oriented Comparative, Global Focus Tension between aspiration, achievement
Examples PWD’s in Politics & Society – Lower division undergraduate – Critical comparisons of approaches Medical: deficit Social/Political – Comparative rights, justice movements – Comparison with other social movements, past & future Disability and the Law – Upper division undergraduate – Includes attention to comparative (rights/movements), international organizational (CRPD, ECHR) dimensions – Role of public interest law
The Nexus in Social Inquiry Demographics – Aging population – IDPs, refugees from wars, Veterans Study of “human security” – Relation to human development
Venn Diagram: 5 sets, for instance disability studies, peace studies, women’s studies, genocide studies, ??