Gyvatės kojos. Negalios samprata gyvenimo pasakojimuose

LTŠioje knygoje kalbama apie negalios sampratą, priklausančią nuo konkrečioje kultūroje vyraujančių normalumo ir normatyvumo sąvokų, nuo požiūrio į žmogų, į jo kūną ir aplinką. Negalios patirčių tyrimas visada yra žmogaus pačia plačiausia prasme tyrimas, aprėpiantia nuosavo kūno patirtį, savęs paties ir kito žmogaus suvokimo epistemologiją, artimiausių socialinių saitų ir visuomenėje paplitusių sampratų dinamiką. Pagrindinę knygos medžiagą sudaro gyvenimo pasakojimai, užrašyti iš žmonių, turinčių fizinę ir sensorinę negalią. Tyrinėdamos šiuos pasakojimus, autorės siekia negaliai sugrąžinti vienos iš daugelio gyvenamojo kūno patirčių statusą ir atitolinti ją nuo žmonių rūšiavimo praktikų. Žmogaus kūno negalia kaip niekas kitas išryškina tai, kad gyvenimas kaskart vis kitaip susiklosto, turi daugybę sluoksnių bei prasmių. [Anotacija knygoje]Reikšminiai žodžiai: Sveikatos sutrikimai; Kultūrologinis požiūris; Filosofinis aspektas; Sutrikusios sveikatos asmenys; Viešoji nuomonė; Literatūrinis vaizdavimas; Health problems; Cultural aspects; Philosophical aspect; Persons with disabilities; Public opinion; Literary representation.

ENThis book examines the concept of disability prevailing in Lithuania and identifies changing trends. One of the assumptions of the book is that there are many disabilities arising from different inabilities which are, to a greater or lesser extent, because of the essential vulnerability of a human being, characteristic of everyone. In some people these are more pronounced and severe; in others, they are milder and less conspicuous. As medical norms and legal criteria have merged and passed into the cultural mainstream (this is examined in the works of Michel Foucault, Georges Canguilhem, and Lennard Davis), a stereotype of disability has emerged, often to the detriment of individual people. We see the boundary between ability and disability as conventional and culturally constructed. This is in no way to deny the wide range of differences in bodily abilities which each of us observes, nor is it to ignore the feelings and states associated with them, some of which are particularly difficult and complex. On the contrary, we are seeking to restore the concept of disability as one of a number of bodily experiences and to distance this concept from practices involving the categorization of human beings. The main material of this book consists of life stories told by people who have physical or sensory disabilities: during three years of research, we interviewed 32 persons (24 life stories are used in the book). We have also included as relevant material literary narratives on disability — in fiction and in poetry, which we have considered as part of life narratives. We have drawn mostly on works written by participants in our research (by persons who were interviewed and also gave their life stories). We thus consider these written narratives to be complementary to the main oral material.The cultural or social research of disability is viewed as a branch of sociocultural studies, where theory can be replaced by contingent situations and dimensions. Tobin Siebers, a philosopher of disability, states that "identities, narratives, and experiences based on disability have the status of theory because they represent locations and forms of embodiment from which the dominant ideologies of society become visible and open to criticism". The idea that narratives and articulations of experience can serve as a critique of the prevailing ideologies is similar to the principle on which the structure of this book is based: the recorded life stories, the reflections of experience of disabilities and the related reasonings provide us with the main concepts which assist in explaining social habits of thought or patterns and show us how to question or change them. Following this methodology, we have worked consistently with the people who told us their life stories: we consulted them during the process of writing, and invited them to read, comment on, and revise what we have quoted or interpreted. Thus, all these people are much more co-authors of the book than contributors. [From the publication]

• Etnologija / Ethnology
• Filosofija / Philosophy