A01=Lennard J. Davis
ableism
access
accessibility
Author_Lennard J. Davis
Category=JBCC
Category=JBFM
Category=JBS
cultural
difference
diversity
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eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
equity
history
identity
justice
mobility
neurodivergence
neurodiversity
normality
philosophy
political
science
social
Product details
- ISBN 9781836740292
- Weight: 183g
- Dimensions: 129 x 198mm
- Publication Date: 18 Nov 2025
- Publisher: Verso Books
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Paperback
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In this highly original study of the cultural assumptions governing our conception of people with disabilities, Lennard J. Davis argues forcefully against "ableist" discourse and for a complete recasting of the category of disability itself.
Enforcing Normalcy surveys the emergence of a cluster of concepts around the term "normal" as these matured in western Europe and the United States over the past 250 years. Linking such notions to the concurrent emergence of discourses about the nation, Davis shows how the modern nation-state constructed its identity on the backs not only of colonized subjects, but of its physically disabled minority. In a fascinating chapter on contemporary cultural theory, Davis explores the pitfalls of privileging the figure of sight in conceptualizing the nature of textuality. And in a treatment of nudes and fragmented bodies in Western art, he shows how the ideal of physical wholeness is both demanded and denied in the classical aesthetics of representation.
Enforcing Normalcy redraws the boundaries of political and cultural discourse. By insisting that disability be added to the familiar triad of race, class and gender, the book challenges progressives to expand the limits of their thinking about human oppression. Includes a new preface from the author.
Enforcing Normalcy surveys the emergence of a cluster of concepts around the term "normal" as these matured in western Europe and the United States over the past 250 years. Linking such notions to the concurrent emergence of discourses about the nation, Davis shows how the modern nation-state constructed its identity on the backs not only of colonized subjects, but of its physically disabled minority. In a fascinating chapter on contemporary cultural theory, Davis explores the pitfalls of privileging the figure of sight in conceptualizing the nature of textuality. And in a treatment of nudes and fragmented bodies in Western art, he shows how the ideal of physical wholeness is both demanded and denied in the classical aesthetics of representation.
Enforcing Normalcy redraws the boundaries of political and cultural discourse. By insisting that disability be added to the familiar triad of race, class and gender, the book challenges progressives to expand the limits of their thinking about human oppression. Includes a new preface from the author.
Lennard J. Davis is a Distinguished Professor emeritus of Liberal Arts and Sciences in the English Department at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He is also a Professor of Disability and Human Development in the School of Applied Health Sciences, as well as a Professor of Medical Education in the College of Medicine at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Davis is also the award-winning author of 11 books, including Enforcing Normalcy, Factual Fictions, and Resisting Novels. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, The Nation, and The Chicago Tribune, among other publications.
