Thursday, February 17, 2011

"Movements: Politics, Performance, and Disability" conference to be Feb. 26 at Barnard College

From the conference Website:

This year's Scholar & Feminist conference brings together feminism and disability studies, two fields that have contributed to the interrogation of the public/private divide, and, when brought together, radically contest and amplify the ways in which this split has produced remarkably thin understandings and practices of accessibility, participation, livelihood, visibility and integration.

"Movements: Politics, Performance, and Disability" will look closely at the ways in which political action and cultural production contribute to new ways of imagining what an inclusive society might look like. The conference will contribute to the ongoing work of social movements dedicated to the creation of networks, spaces, relations, and concepts of justice that are open and accessible to all.

Through dance, film, political engagement and dialogue, we will make our way from Barnard College to New York City to the larger world and back again, exploring the ways in which artistic endeavors, scholarship, and politics have all led to mobilizations for feminist and disability activism.

The conference features a series of workshops on topics including parenting and disability, alternatives for creating community in the face of privitization and state budget cuts, films on disability, and a new project on oral histories with Barnard and Columbia alumnae who identify as disabled. The day concludes with a special performance by the Heidi Latsky Dance Company (pictured), a fully integrated dance group.