Announcements and Calls for Papers

Call for Papers: Special Issue of Disability Studies Quarterly

Self-reflection as scholarly praxis: Researcher identity in Disability Studies

Guest Editors: Joan Ostrove (Macalester College) and Jennifer Rinaldi (York University)

Critical identity scholars have noted the importance of a self-reflexive stance with respect to our own subject positions as a necessary ingredient toward knowledge production and effective engagement across differences of identity (e.g., Harding, 1991; Michalko, 2002; Mohanty, 2003; Reinharz, 1992). This proposed special issue of Disability Studies Quarterly intends to focus on the "researcher as subject" to ask how our own identities inform our work in and beyond Disability Studies.

The process of self-reflection is critical to any intellectual or interpersonal endeavor. This is particularly true in an arena like Disability Studies in which issues of identity, power, oppression, cooptation, etc., are consistently and persistently at play. The Disability Movement's rallying cry "nothing about us without us" is a reminder of the responsibility we all have to situate ourselves in relation to our work in Disability Studies. Tensions and opportunities related to who is "disabled" and who is an "ally" also deserve additional attention, and we think this special issue of DSQ can be an important venue for addressing those issues and why they matter.

We invite researchers, practitioners and teachers from diverse disciplinary backgrounds and with diverse social identities to reflect on the ways in which their multiple identities inform their scholarly interests and research programs, pedagogy, relationships to particular texts or people, etc. We encourage a variety of strategies for critical self-reflection; possible topics include but are not limited to:

  • The development of your scholarly and other academic interests in disability studies;
  • The ways in which your identities inform your research interests, scholarly processes, pedagogy, or policy decisions you've made or advocated for;
  • How you negotiate issues of power, privilege, and oppression in your scholarly, academic, or clinical work;
  • How your own identities inform your interactions with research participants, students, patients, and colleagues;
  • How you understand, analyze, or navigate various "insider"/"outsider" positions with respect to disability or other dimensions of identit(ies).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: May 1, 2012

Submissions should be a maximum of 25 double-spaced pages (including references and other supportive material). All submissions will be peer reviewed. Manuscripts should follow the author guidelines specified on the DSQ website (http://www.dsq-sds.org/about/submissions#authorGuidelines) and should be submitted electronically to ostrove@macalester.edu.

If you have any questions, please contact Joan Ostrove (ostrove@macalester.edu) or Jennifer Rinaldi (jrinaldi@yorku.ca).

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