CFP: Medieval/ist Disabled Affect (A Roundtable)

Organizer: Kisha Tracy ; ktracy3@fitchburgstate.edu

Delivery Mode: Hybrid

Principal Sponsoring Organization: Society for the Study of Disability in the Middle Ages

Affect is one of the nonverbal ways humans communicate with other, particularly in how we express emotion. However, how individuals express affect can differ and even be counter to actual emotion, whether as part of the experience of disability or as a response to social constructs influencing how individuals should feel or how they should present their emotions. For instance, “people with disabilities do not experience joy” or “women should smile.” This roundtable seeks to explore the experiences of disabled affect, by medieval people(s), by modern medievalists, and how each can inform the other.