Stigma, Community, Ethnography

Joan Ablon's Contribution to the Anthropology of Impairment-Disability

Bibliographic Data

ID2478784
AuthorsRussell P Shuttleworth, Russell Shuttleworth (University of California, Berkeley, corresponding author)
Year2004
Volume18
Issue2
Pages139-161
Publication date2004-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueMedical Anthropology Quarterly (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0745-5194 • E-ISSN: 1548-1387
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1525/maq.2004.18.2.139
PMID15272801
OpenAlexW2099774703
LanguageEN
Citations received35
References cited74

Joan Ablon has helped establish the anthropology of impairment-disability and significantly contributed to the role of anthropology in disability studies. In this article, we review the development of and situate Ablon's ethnographic research in the anthropology of impairment-disability. We then address various methodological issues in her work including her ethnographic approach, her grounding in action anthropology and her support for the development of the academic study of disability in anthropology and the careers of disabled anthropologists. The next section of the article examines Ablon's use of the notion of stigma, her understanding of community, and her engagement with disability rights. As examples of themes important to disability studies, we present her discussion of the implications of the ideal of the body beautiful, and gender differences in negotiating intimacy for people with physical differences. We close with a discussion of the future of an anthropology of impairment-disability.[disability, impairment, Ablon, genetics, ethnography

Applied anthropology · Disability studies · Embodied cognition · Epistemology · Ethnography · Medical anthropology · Negotiation · Psychiatry · Social science · Sociology · Stigma (botany · Anthropology · Disability Rights and Representation · Down syndrome and intellectual disability research · Gender Studies · Inclusion and Disability in Education and Sport · Psychology