Art History and Disability Studies

Contributions are sought for an interdisciplinary collection of essays on art history and disability studies for an edited volume to be published by Ashgate Publishing Co., as part of the series Interdisciplinary Disability Studies.

Art history has not been as influenced by disability studies as have other disciplines of the humanities. Art historians have analyzed images by and about disabled people without integrating disability studies scholarship, while many disability studies scholars refer to images, but do not necessarily incorporate art historical research and methodology. This edited volume centers on interdisciplinary art history and disability studies scholarship.

Papers may address issues such as the following:

- Specific representations of disability throughout art history, including works by disabled and nondisabled artists
- Portraits of disabled individuals throughout history, with visible and/or invisible impairments
- Scientific, anthropological, and vernacular images of disability and how they have influenced fine art
- Representations that display disability and eroticization
- Performance in the forms of artworks and in the everyday lives of disabled individuals
- Theories and implications of looking/staring versus gazing in disability studies and in art history
- Examples of visual art that represent and/or challenge stereotypes of disability

Submissions due: Sept. 15, 2014. All submissions must represent previously unpublished work. Please send an abstract of no more than 300 words and CV via email to the following:
Ann Millett-Gallant: amillettnc.rr.com and Elizabeth Howie: ehowiecoastal.edu

Selected authors will be notified by Oct. 15, 2014 and will contribute a full length essay of approximately 6000 words by April 1, 2015. All chapters will be reviewed by the editors before submission to the publisher, and will be subject to an additional external review.