Epistemic Inter_Actions - Translating at the Seams of International Disability Discourse and Advocacy
Erstgutachter: Prof. Dr. Reinhold Sackmann (Soziologie, Martin-Luther-Universität Halle- Wittenberg)
Zweitgutachterin: Prof. Dr. rer. pol. Anne Waldschmidt (Soziologie und Politik der Rehabilitation, Disability Studies, Universität zu Köln)
The goal this research project sets itself is an actor-based sociology of knowledge examination of how disability rights advocates' contributions of knowledge are influenced by, and in turn shape, epistemic norms around dis/ability. A critical referent to which such knowledge adheres is hypothesised as lying in the concepts brought forward in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD, 2008) undergo their constitution and constant reformation interpretative qualities when conveyed among international advocacy actors. Theoretical notions are drawn inductively from actors' statements: their conscious or unaware thematisation of issues and concepts is to allow insight to processes of power-knowledge-development in a field where epistemic hierarchies remain highly flexible. Analytical categorisation thereby also involves social, experiential knowledge of persons directly concerned and those close to them (e.g. family members or personal assistants), elevating their authority in the process to levels equalling those of established ‘experts'. This work aims to investigate how dynamics relating disability knowledge and power emerge from and affect the knowing of advocacy rights actors who navigate both sides of this heterogeneous field of practices, following the guiding question:
How does knowledge of disability rights advocates contribute to a dispositif of disability?
Since this research engages with power dynamics that are expressed in structured relationships, symbolic interaction, communication, transfer, translation and interpretations, social actors are taken as a lens through which analysis views its subject. With regard to such elements being symbolically visible in their formation of contingent cultural symbolic orders and technical-game metacodes (i.e. a languages implicitly indicating their origin, structure, history, and effects), it seems suitable to apply a mix of methods. They consist of using (1) Grounded Theory coding from a social constructionist perspective (cf. Glaser & Strauss 1967; Charmaz 1990), so as to allow the actors to inductively provoke and produce in their statements what are relevant indicators for their practices; (2) a sociology of knowledge approach to discourse analysis (Keller 2008) is attempted, so as to contextualise legal and political texts, public and stakeholder statements, and recognise their relevance for the power relations concerned. Thereby, I aim to investigate rights actors' impact on a dis/ability dispositif - as a network of relations, discourses, institutions, laws, etc. that are strategic and illustrate intersections of power and knowledge (Foucault 1980 [1977]).
Empirical research consists primarily of in-depth qualitative interviews with members of an epistemic community consisting of a) representatives from international as well as local organisations concerned, experienced in two-level ‘downward' and ‘upward' communication; b) actors in the international political spectrum of disability legislation and policy; c) and academics knowledgeable in the genealogy of disability-related human rights and research. Additionally, documentary analysis of legal texts and official wording, as well as participant observation in the discursive setting of international consultation, are to put the information gathered into critical perspective. This project wants to provide answers regarding relations of power and knowledge that impact dominant and marginal ideas and thoughts concerning dis/ability, and the regimes of governance they are part of. It hopes to eventually lead, via contribution to and increased awareness of reflexive processes, to a more encompassing approach in disability rights communication and advocacy.
Literatur:
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Campbell, Fiona Kumari. 2009. Contours of Ableism: Territories, Objects, Disability and Desire. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Cherney, James L. 2011. "The Rhetoric of Ableism." Disability Studies Quarterly 31 (3).
(URL: http://dsq-sds.org/article/view/1665/1606, retrieved 16 Nov 2014)
Grue, Jan. 2009. "Critical Discourse Analysis, Topoi and Mystification: Disability Policy Documents from a Norwegian NGO." Discourse Studies 11 (3) (June 1): 305-328.
Oliver, Mike, and Colin Barnes. 2010. "Disability Studies, Disabled People and the Struggle for Inclusion." British Journal of Sociology of Education 31 (5): 547-560.
Rottenburg, Richard. 2005. "Code-Switching, or Why a Metacode Is Good to Have." In Global Ideas: How Ideas, Objects and Practices Travel in the Global Econcomy, edited by Barbara Czarniawska and Guje Sévon, 259-274. Advances in Globalization Studies. Malmö: Liber & Copenhagen Business School Press.
United Nations General Assembly. 2006. "CRPD - Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities & Optional Protocol.", A/RES/61/106 & A/RES/64/154, New York: United Nations.