Fall 2019

Disability Media

Listed in: English, as ENGL-376  |  Film and Media Studies, as FAMS-355

Faculty

Pooja G. Rangan (Section 01)

Description

(Offered as ENGL 376 and FAMS 355) Moving image and audiovisual media frequently assume a fully able subject despite the infinite variety of our embodied capacities and debilitations. This course will explore how this assumption has shaped the design, narrative forms, audiovisual poetics, exhibition contexts, and modes of spectatorship and engagement of a range of media forms, from cinema to digital interfaces. We will examine how critical, experimental, and therapeutic approaches to media, the uses of media by people with disabilities, and media made in collaboration with disabled makers and protagonists enable us to fundamentally rethink what media can be and do. Readings will draw from disability studies and film and media studies as well as philosophy, science and technology studies, performance studies, sound studies, and other areas. Topics may include: disability tropes and rehabilitation narratives in film and TV; prostheses and “assistive” technologies; subtitles, captions, and the politics of accessibility; inclusive product and interface design; staring as spectatorial mode; sound art and polymodal listening. 

Prior coursework in ENGL or FAMS is recommended but not required. Open to sophomores, juniors, and seniors. Open to first-year students with consent of the instructor. Limited to 25 students. Fall semester. Professor Rangan.

ENGL 376 - L/D

Section 01
Tu 10:00 AM - 11:20 AM CONV 302
Th 10:00 AM - 11:20 AM CONV 302

ENGL 376 - FIL

Section 01
Su 07:00 PM - 10:00 PM

Offerings

2024-25: Not offered
Other years: Offered in Fall 2019