Nov 1

Black Women’s Speculative Fiction and the Deconstruction of Able-Mindedness

Thursday, November 1, 2018

6:00 PM - 8:00 PM

Drawn from Dr. Schalk’s new book, Bodyminds Reimagined: (Dis)ability,  Race, and Gender in Black Women’s Speculative Fiction (Duke UP 2018), this talk explores how the concept of able-mindedness is based on racial and gender norms, and argues that black women’s speculative fiction deconstructs able-mindedness by representing differing experiences of reality.

Using the examples of Phyllis Alesia Perry’s Stigmata and contemporary police violence against black people, this talk insists upon the intersectional and mutually constitutive nature of ableism and racism in our contemporary world.

Sami Schalk is an assistant professor of Gender & Women’s Studies at the University of Wisconsin- Madison. Her research focuses on representations of race, disability, and gender in contemporary American culture. Dr. Schalk has published her work in journals such as Disability Studies Quarterly, Journal of Modern Literature, African American Review and Journal of Popular Culture. Learn more about her at samischalk.com.

Presented by
UIC Disability Cultural Center and Women’s Leadership & Resource Center

Department Co-sponsors:
African American Studies
Disability and Human Development
English
Gender and Sexuality Center
Gender and Women’s Studies

 

Contact

UIC Women's Leadership and Resource Center
312-413-1025