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Disability as a Place for Imagination

Introduction to Geek Love

Trading the Quest for Normalcy for the Thrill of Abnormalcy

Trading the Quest for Normalcy for the Thrill ...

One Conversation

  • How to we get disabled people integrated into normal society?
  • Good Kings Bad Kings
  • ADA
  • High value on integration
  • Seeking equality -- elevated the status of the disabled to that of the nondisabled

Another Conversation

  • Why would we want to be integrated into normal society? Normal society doesn't seem that great.
  • Looking at disability as a space to reimagine society from the ground up
  • what is beauty?
  • what should work look like?
  • what can a family be?
  • what values do we want to hold in upmost importance?

These conversations are not necessarily ...

These conversations are not necessarily at odds (although they can be), but function as two strands of thought looking at the same problem from different perspectives.

My 12 Pairs of Legs

https://www.ted.com/talks/aimee_mullins_prosthetic_aesthetics#t-325357

My 12 Pairs of Legs

The Complicated Freak Show

  • Most popular in 19th century
  • In some ways, reinforces ideas of normalcy - "normal" bodies gather to gawk at every type of "abnormality"
  • any perceived "abnormality" in size, shape, movement, gender, race, ethnicity, and disability
  • bearded lady
  • African American in costume
  • dwarf
  • people with amputated limbs
  • people with a lot of tattoos

At the Same Time

  • People argue over whether or not the freak show empowered some of its players
  • Provided steady incomes for people who otherwise would be impoverished/homeless/institutionalized
  • Who actually has power -- the viewer or the performer?
  • Freak shows dwindled and almost disappeared by 1940s -- medical knowledge reframed these unusual embodiments from fear/wonderment/horror to pity

1989 Cult Classic:

Geek Love, by Katheri...

1989 Cult Classic:

Geek Love, by Katherine Dunn

  • Beloved book known to inspire artists, musicians, and writers (e.g. Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love, Karen Russel's Swamplandia!)
  • Terry Gilliam (former Monty Pythonite, director of Time Bandits, Brazil, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas) calls it “the most romantic novel about love and family I have read. It made me ashamed to be so utterly normal.”
  • Flea, the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ bassist, says “Certain books are so imaginative that they suck you into a world that you’d never known existed. They make you feel like you’re being let in on this secret. It’s life-changing.”
  • Henry Selick (director The Nightmare Before Christmas, James and the Giant Peach, and Coraline): “It remains one of my favorite books of all time, with the most powerful, amazing characters, and a topsy-turvy view of what’s normal, and what’s not, which is something that interests me.”

Geek Love Continued

  • flips our traditional perspective of "normal" on its head
  • uses strangeness as a medium for play and imagination
  • doesn't necessarily offer a practical vision for an alternate world, but invites us to play and imagine, question and challenge

Geek Love Assignments

  • creative project and reflection paper
  • write two journal entries
  • lead one class discussion in pairs or small groups

Discussion

  • What are your initial, gut reactions to our first glimpse at the Binewski family?
  • What lines and descriptors of this world/these characters stand out to you the most? What strikes you about this language?
  • How do you see this story aligning with, complicating, or contradicting ideas we’ve been working through in this class?

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