Animality-patriarchy in Mental Disability Representations

John Derby

John Derby University of Kansas

Abstract

In this article, I theorize an ableist, familial discourse of animality-patriarchy through examination of Foucault's (1988), Gilman's (1976, 1988, 1995, 1996), and Kromm's (2002) histories of mental disability representations. These scholars show how animal as well as female and infant human characteristics were each used to signify inferiority, but they overlook the collective function of such characteristics within a discursive system that appeals to hierarchical animal taxonomies. Utilizing perspectives from Disability Studies, Gender Studies, and Animal Studies, I provide a historical overview of how representations of mental disability in Western cultures rely on multiple, overlapping types of oppression, specifically ableism, paternalism, and speciesism, which I argue coalesce as a form of patriarchy. Contrasting Mitchell (2012), who asserts that madness was always represented as an exaggeration of what society perceives as normal thinking, I argue that the taxonomic aspect of what I am calling animalitypatriarchy implies absolute difference between disabled and non-disabled people, between men, women, children, and pets, and so on, which is used to rationalize the oppression of such groups.

Author Biography

John Derby, University of Kansas

John Derby is Assistant Professor at the University of Kansas. He earned his PhD in Art Education from The Ohio State University, MA from Brigham Young University, and BS and BFA degrees from Bowling Green State University. He has over fifteen years of teaching experience in secondary and higher education and several years of experience as a professional jewelry designer and goldsmith. His research program interests art education and the interdisciplinary field of critical disability studies, with specific interests in mental disability, contemporary art and visual culture, and animal studies. He has published in leading academic journals of both fields, including Art Education, Disability Studies Quarterly, Review of Disability Studies, Studies in Art Education, Visual Arts Research, and Visual Culture & Gender. He welcomes dialogue and collaboration, and can be reached at johnderby@ku.edu