Matching Items (2)
Filtering by
- All Subjects: ablenationalism
- Status: Published
Description
Spotlighting the figure of the exceptional disabled girl as she circulates in the contemporary mediascape, this dissertation traces how this figure shapes the contours of a post-Americans with Disabilities Act structure of feeling. I contend that the figure of the exceptional disabled girl operates as a reparative future girl. As a reparative figure, she is deployed as a sign of the triumph of U.S. benevolence, as well as a stand-in for the continuing fantasy and potential of the promise of the American dream, or the good life. Affectively managing the fraying of the good life through a shoring up of ablenationalism, the figure of the exceptional disabled girl rehabilitates the nation from a place of ignorance to understanding, from a place of nervous anxiety to one of hopeful promise, and from a precarious present to a not-so-bleak-looking future.
Placing feminist cultural studies theories of affect in conversation with feminist disability studies and girlhood studies, this dissertation maps evocations of disabled girlhood. It traces how certain affective states as an intersubjective glue stick to specific disabled girls’ bodies and how these intersubjective attachments generate an emergent affective atmosphere that attempts to repair the fraying fantasy of the good life. Utilizing affect as methodology and object of analysis, this dissertation interrogates ambivalent visual artifacts: ranging from the “real” figure of the disabled girl through YouTubers, Charisse Living with Cerebral Palsy and Rikki Poynter, to a fictional disabled girl in Degrassi: Next Class; spanning from physically disabled beauty pageant contestants to autistic girls learning how to dance; and, finally, looking to a black disabled girl in her life and death, Jerika Bolen. I contend that through their roles as disability educators, shared objects of happiness and optimism, and pedagogues of death, exceptional disabled girls have been deployed as guides on a new roadmap to ideal, affective post-ADA citizenhood.
Placing feminist cultural studies theories of affect in conversation with feminist disability studies and girlhood studies, this dissertation maps evocations of disabled girlhood. It traces how certain affective states as an intersubjective glue stick to specific disabled girls’ bodies and how these intersubjective attachments generate an emergent affective atmosphere that attempts to repair the fraying fantasy of the good life. Utilizing affect as methodology and object of analysis, this dissertation interrogates ambivalent visual artifacts: ranging from the “real” figure of the disabled girl through YouTubers, Charisse Living with Cerebral Palsy and Rikki Poynter, to a fictional disabled girl in Degrassi: Next Class; spanning from physically disabled beauty pageant contestants to autistic girls learning how to dance; and, finally, looking to a black disabled girl in her life and death, Jerika Bolen. I contend that through their roles as disability educators, shared objects of happiness and optimism, and pedagogues of death, exceptional disabled girls have been deployed as guides on a new roadmap to ideal, affective post-ADA citizenhood.
ContributorsTodd, Anastasia (Author) / Switzer, Heather (Thesis advisor) / Fonow, Mary Margaret (Thesis advisor) / Himberg, Julia (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
Description
Zines have made space for queer, intersectional feminists to bring together academic and artistic knowledge in order to produce a message and inspire readers. In order to criticize the legal definition and practical execution of obscenity in the US, a visual component was a necessity. The use of a Zine allowed for a critical and humorous exploration of obscenity in US law and media. The Zine provides a visual analysis while the companion essay provides a critique of the zine and additional analysis. The Zine brings awareness to ways in which the legal historical objectification of black and native bodies contributed to the creation of modern obscenity laws. These laws are based on racist and sexist ideals of morality and create inherently flawed definitions of obscenity through personal bias. The flaws within the laws allow for exceptions in the legal definition of obscenity which normalizes the commodification of women's bodies. These laws and the exceptions present contribute to the dehumanization of and violence towards women as usefulness is deemed the most important factor when considering the use of women’s bodies in potentially obscene images and films.
ContributorsTidwell, Alana Juliet (Author) / Koker, Neveser (Thesis director) / Switzer, Heather (Committee member) / School of Social Transformation (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05