Research Mentor(s)
Calderon, Dolores
Description
It may appear that the marginalization of people with disabilities/impairments and the marginalization of colonized subjects are separate issues, even if they sometimes intersect in the bodyminds of disabled Indigenous individuals. However, the marginalization and oppression of disabled and Indigenous people goes beyond the “simple” intersecting of oppressions. Indigenous peoples and those constructed by Western culture to have disabilities are disempowered and marginalized by deeply overlapping and mutually reinforcing mechanisms of oppression. My academic goal for this research was to engage in a borderland dialogue between Indigenous and Western worldviews around conceptions of health and unwellness, as a basis for radical re-imaginings of disability within a Western context. During the course of this research I read eighteen articles regarding the intersections of colonialism, disability, and indigeneity. I studied how Indigenous people and disabled people are similarly marginalized by interlocking forces of colonization and eugenics. I researched the foundations of Eurocentric thought that underpin that colonization and ableism. I learned about the ways in which Indigenous worldviews radically differ from Eurocentric ones, as well as the theoretical and actual effects of those worldviews on Indigenous people with impairments living in traditional Indigenous communities. As a result of this research, since WWU does not currently offer consistent critical disability studies courses, I created an annotated bibliography summarizing the eighteen articles I read, to share with students and faculty. I also created a thirty-minute video presentation outlining my research and the synthesis thereof, which is publicly available on YouTube.
Document Type
Event
Start Date
18-5-2020 12:00 AM
End Date
22-5-2020 12:00 AM
Department
Interdisciplinary Studies
Genre/Form
student projects, posters
Subjects – Topical (LCSH)
Marginality, Social; Human rights; People with disabilities; Indians of North America
Type
Image
Keywords
Decolonial Studies, Critical Disability Studies, Indigenous, Eugenics, Ableism, Colonialism.
Rights
Copying of this document in whole or in part is allowable only for scholarly purposes. It is understood, however, that any copying or publication of this document for commercial purposes, or for financial gain, shall not be allowed without the author’s written permission.
Language
English
Format
application/pdf
Included in
Decolonizing Disability: An Independent Research Project
It may appear that the marginalization of people with disabilities/impairments and the marginalization of colonized subjects are separate issues, even if they sometimes intersect in the bodyminds of disabled Indigenous individuals. However, the marginalization and oppression of disabled and Indigenous people goes beyond the “simple” intersecting of oppressions. Indigenous peoples and those constructed by Western culture to have disabilities are disempowered and marginalized by deeply overlapping and mutually reinforcing mechanisms of oppression. My academic goal for this research was to engage in a borderland dialogue between Indigenous and Western worldviews around conceptions of health and unwellness, as a basis for radical re-imaginings of disability within a Western context. During the course of this research I read eighteen articles regarding the intersections of colonialism, disability, and indigeneity. I studied how Indigenous people and disabled people are similarly marginalized by interlocking forces of colonization and eugenics. I researched the foundations of Eurocentric thought that underpin that colonization and ableism. I learned about the ways in which Indigenous worldviews radically differ from Eurocentric ones, as well as the theoretical and actual effects of those worldviews on Indigenous people with impairments living in traditional Indigenous communities. As a result of this research, since WWU does not currently offer consistent critical disability studies courses, I created an annotated bibliography summarizing the eighteen articles I read, to share with students and faculty. I also created a thirty-minute video presentation outlining my research and the synthesis thereof, which is publicly available on YouTube.