Looking at the history of state socialism through the lens of disability history facilitates new and important insights and enriches our understanding of both the specific features of socialist structures and of disability in modern societies in general. In order to collect existing results of scholarship in this field, bring together researchers on an international basis, discuss concepts, terminology and methodology, and – first and foremost – develop new and innovative questions, we invite interested scholars to participate in our book project on Disability in State-Socialism. Comparative and theoretically inspired papers are particularly welcome, supporting a perspective interested in both the specific features of disability in socialist societies and in differences within the so-called socialist “bloc”.
Topics of interest include (but are not limited to):
- Definitions of disability and historical changes
- The application of concepts such as biopolitics and governmentality to socialist societies
- The concept of labor as a defining category in socialist societies and its impact on people with disabilities
- Intersectional approaches, considering age, gender, ethnicity, and sexuality.
- Representations of disability in media and culture
- Institutions and politics relating to people with disability
Our aim is the publication of an edited volume that will approach the topic of disability from a decidedly historical perspective and make a valuable contribution to the general study of socialist societies. The project is part of the broader research program „Disability in the Czech Republic/Czechoslovakia“, conducted by scholars from the Charles University Prague and the Christian-Albrechts-University Kiel, funded jointly by the GAČR and the DFG.
We are asking interested scholars to submit an abstract of not more than 500 words. The selected participants will be invited to present first drafts of their papers during a workshop at the University of Kiel on May 24th-26th, 2019. Subsequently and after another round of revision and peer-review, papers will be published in an edited volume, presumably with Campus Verlag.

Schedule:
Deadline for abstracts (500 words max): August 1st, 2018
Deadline for first drafts, to be pre-circulated for the workshop: April 1st, 2019
Workshop at the University of Kiel: May 24th-26th, 2019
Deadline for final papers: September 2019
Funding for travel expenses and accommodation is possible, please let us know about your requirements.

The project is organized by Dr. Kateřina Kolářová, Charles University, Prague, and Prof. Dr. Martina Winkler, University of Kiel.

Contact: Martina Winkler, mwinkler@oeg.uni-kiel.de