This course examines contemporary issues in bioethics and care ethics through the lenses of feminist philosophy, queer and crip theory, and critical disability studies. Traditional bioethics often assumes an abstract, universal subject detached from social context. In contrast, this course foregrounds the bodymind—a term from Margaret Price and Eli Clare that emphasizes the interconnection of mental and physical experience—as a site of power, vulnerability, and resistance. We will read essays and case studies from philosophers of disability, bioethicists, and critical disability scholars such as Shelley Tremain, Kim Hall, Alison Kafer, Eli Clare, Eunjung Kim, Jina Kim, and Mel Chen, etc. This course will introduce essential theoretical tools such as biopolitics, cripistemology, compulsory able-bodiedness, curative violence, crip temporality, etc.
Categories: Critical Disability Studies, Crip Studies, Mad Studies