HIST 5315F/PECO 5501F/CDNS 5003C: Disability, Capacity, and Debility
Fall 2024
Instructor: Professor Dominique Marshall
“Canadian Free Library for the Blind – Book plate Printed label from the CFLB metal plate, in this case with the Library address Markham, Ontario, the original home of the CFLB , No. 293.” “That All May Read”, an online exhibit celebrating the 100th anniversary of CNIB (Canadian National Institute for the Blind) in 2018. https://thatallmayread.ca/galleries/?cat=9#images-6
Introduction: An exploration of the social, political, cultural, scientific and transnational histories of disability, capacity and debility in Canada.
Instructor: Dominique Marshall researches the past of disability and technology. She helps coordinates the Carleton University Disability Research Group. She is the co-author of “Creating, Archiving and Exhibiting Disability History: The Oral Histories of Disability Activists of the Carleton University Disability Research Group”. First Monday 28 (1), 2023. She has supervised or co-supervised graduate thesis on the following topics:
- “Art Picturing Disability in and after World War One.”
- “An Oral History of the Creation of the Long COVID Rehabilitation Pilot Program of the Ottawa Hospital.”
- “The Concept of Schizophrenia in Ottawa: Perspectives of Psychiatry, the Public, and Patients 1883-2013”.
- “Deaf Education, the Politics of Humanitarianism, and State Formation in Saskatchewan and Alberta, 1880-1931“,
- “Women, mental health, artistic expression and confinement in late 19th century Montreal”.
- “Refugees and disability in Canada. Political Science.”
Class Format: Organised around one theme every two weeks. Seminar oral (synchronous) and written (asynchronous) discussions, conversations with scholars and disability NGO workers or veterans, and presentations (with a choice or written or audio-recorded presentation). Individual meetings with Instructor.
Aims and Goals: The course will introduce students to the main debates surrounding the history of disability in Canada in the contexts of the transnational histories of social policies, bodies, health, wars and aid. It will familiarize students with methods of work with objects and online museum collections. It will pay a particular attention to the approaches and the documents used to write such histories. The course relies on the shared knowledge of an interdisciplinary group of students. It is cross listed with PECO 5501F.
Assessment: The assessed work will consist in weekly readings and seminar discussions. Over the term, each student will develop an individual research project on a theme selected by them, as well as one small group project. It will involve working with archival documents.
Text: Weekly readings of the equivalent of two to three scholarly articles or book chapters. The readings will be available through the library course reserve system.
Questions? Please email me at: Dominique_marshall@carleton.ca