Research Focus Group Discussion: Disability in Latin American and Latinx Contexts

Please join us for a discussion on disability in Latin American and Latinx contexts. While disability studies is a diverse and evolving field, much of the focus has been on exploring disabled bodyminds in the context of the Global North, often leaving out questions of neoliberalism, colonialism, and racialization. This conversation will begin to explore how scholars interested in disability might begin expanding this conversation by including both Latin American and US Latinx perspectives on the bodymind. The conversation will be centered around two readings: the introduction to Libre Accesso: Latin American Literature and Film through Disability Studies and a short story by Ramón García, entitled “Amor Indio: Juan Diego of San Diego.”

Shanna Killeen will moderate this event. They earned their MA in English from Oregon State University in 2017. They specialize in disability studies and queer studies with a particular focus on neurodivergence, crip Latinx art and literature, and aromanticism. Their dissertation, entitled “Affect Aliens: On Neurodivergent and Aromantic Epistemologies,” explores affective norms and the ways in which certain kinds of bodyminds come to be pathologized as lacking in affect. Their work turns to the contemporary aesthetic and discursive practices of neurodivergent and aromantic people to ask what this can tell us about affect, interrelationality, and care.

Works Cited:
Antebi, Susan, and Beth Ellen Jörgensen. “Introduction: A Latin American Context for Disability Studies.” Libre Acceso: Latin American Literature and Film through Disability Studies, State University of New York Press, 2016.
García, Ramón. “Amor Indio: Juan Diego of San Diego.” Virgins, Guerrillas & Locas: Gay Latinos Writing on Love, 1st ed, Cleis Press, 1999.

For the readings, please write to: disabilitystudies@english.ucsb.edu

Register for the Zoom attendance link here

Sponsored by the IHC’s Disability Studies Initiative Research Focus Group, Comparative Literature Program, and Graduate Center for Literary Research