Dr. Gildas Bregain, École des Hautes Études en Santé Publique
Dr. Beth Robertson, Carleton University
Dr. Paul van Trigt, Leiden University

This seminar aims to explore the historical relationship between disability and the nation state from a transnational perspective, with the intent of probing how that relationship has manifested over time in the form of technological and public infrastructure, employment and education, government policies and state bureaucracy around immigration and global development, as well as the issue of human and civil rights. Much like the seminar series overarching theme, this seminar will serve to challenge the idea that disability is a peripheral issue of a marginalized few, but instead will position disability as a central feature of the nation state and how it operates. By doing so, our aim is to probe the historical, political and cultural contexts that have shaped the current state of democracy, the development of human rights legislation, and in turn, how persisting barriers to public services, political participation, employment, education, etc. reflect an all too enduring conception of citizenship that is premised on the non-disabled person, which can only be imagined through reference to its alleged opposite - the disabled body/mind.

This seminar is part of the Disability Futurity series organised by the Carleton University Disability Research Group in collaboration with the Liverpool Hope University Centre for Culture & Disability Studies.