Foucault and the Government of Disability is the first book-length investigation of the relevance and importance of the ideas of Michel Foucault to the field of disability studies-and vice versa. Over the last thirty years, politicized conceptions of disability have precipitated significant social change, including the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990, the redesign of urban landscapes, the appearance of closed-captioning on televisions, and the growing recognition that disabled people constitute a marginalized and disenfranchised constituency.

The provocative essays in this volume respond to Foucault's call to question what is regarded as natural, inevitable, ethical, and liberating, while they challenge established understandings of Foucault's analyses and offer fresh approaches to his work. The book's roster of distinguished international contributors represents a broad range of disciplines and perspectives, making this a timely and necessary addition to the burgeoning field of disability studies.

 

Shelley L. Tremain holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy and has taught in Canada, the U.S., and Australia. 

"Each sections chapters have been arranged to highlight areas of agreement and difference, while across the book as a whole, chapters are arranged in such a way that readers unfamiliar with either Foucault or [Disability Studies] theory can derive important grounding concepts from early chapters...One of the most powerful successes is its delicate balancing of the many audiences it imagines."
—Theory & Event

— Margaret Price, Theory & Event