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2022, 'Disability Studies in East Europe – Reconfigurations' seminar series, Jagiellonian University, Poland
This is the text of a presentation prepared for the ‘Disability Studies in East Europe – Reconfigurations’ seminar series organised by a disability studies group at the Jagiellonian University, Poland. The seminar took place online on 27 May 2022. In the presentation, I discuss a framework for a critical and historically informed analysis of disablement in the postsocialist region of Central and Eastern Europe. The framework brings together disability studies, Nancy Fraser’s theory of social justice, and critical studies of postsocialism. This helps understand disablement in the postsocialist region in terms of intersections between state socialist legacies and postsocialist neoliberal transformations in the economic, cultural, and political spheres. Specific instances of disablement are explored, including continuing institutionalisation, retrenchment of public support, medical-productivist framing of disability, overvaluation of self-sufficiency, and depoliticisation of disability organising.
Disability & Society
Critique of deinstitutionalisation in postsocialist Central and Eastern Europe (Disability & Society, 2019)2019 •
In this paper, we explore critically deinstitutionalisation reform, focusing specifically on the postsocialist region of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). We argue that deinstitutionalisation in postsocialist CEE has generated re-institutionalising outcomes, including renovation of existing institutions and/or creation of new, smaller settings that have nevertheless reproduced key features of institutional life. To explain these trends, we first consider the historical background of the reform, highlighting the legacy of state socialism and the effects of postsocialist neoliberalisation. We then discuss the impact of ‘external’ drivers of deinstitutionalisation in CEE, particularly the European Union and its funding, as well as human rights discourses incorporated in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The analysis is supported by looking at the current situation in Hungary and Bulgaria through recent reports by local civil society organisations. In conclusion, we propose some definitional tactics for redirecting existing resources towards genuine community-based services.
Disability and Society 2015
REVIEW of Disability in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union: history, policy and everyday lifeDisability in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union is indeed a timely book. It arrives at the 25-year anniversary of the collapse of most of the socialist governments in Eastern and Central Europe; an anniversary that is still largely seen as a celebration of the arrival of democracy and freedom to the ‘Eastern bloc’. This simplifying appraisal of the complex and difficult social transformations of the post-socialist societies following 1989 or 1991 respectively illustrates how needed the intervention this volume offers really is. Resounding with the current critiques of austerity measures and politics of exceptionalising (and undoing) disabled lives, editors Michael Rassell and Elena Iarskaia-Smirnova sum up the ambivalent effects of the post-socialist transformations as follows: ‘In a cruel irony of fate, disabled people in Eastern Europe gained greater recognition and freedom over their lives at a time when political and economic instability undermined the potential of state welfare systems to reduce disabling barriers’ (6). Hence, one of the important contributions of the book lies in providing us with concrete examples of the contradictory nature of the impacts the post-socialist developments (and the role of international organisations and transnational institutional bodies) had on the lives of people with disabilities...
This article criticizes the negative impact of productivism on disabled people of working age in the postsocialist region of Central and Eastern Europe. Productivism is conceptualized as a mechanism that generates cultural and material invalidation of those considered to be unable to work. The analysis begins by outlining some political-economic features of state socialism that underpinned its productivism, emphasizing commodification of labor. It proceeds by discussing the ensuing approach to social policy, comparing it with two alternative models. Afterwards, it highlights several ways in which productivism shaped disability policy in the countries of the former Eastern Bloc. Finally, the analysis looks at present-day disability policy in the postsocialist region. It is argued that after 1989, the state-based productivism of the socialist regime was partially complemented and partially displaced by the market-based productivism of the new neoliberal regime. The conclusion discusses strategies for resisting productivism, focusing specifically on decommodification of labor. Online at: http://crs.sagepub.com/content/early/2015/08/12/0896920515595843.abstract
For decades, disability in post-Soviet countries seemed erased from academic discussion. After the fall of the Soviet Union, sociologists, economists, historians and political scientists from western countries paid attention to disability in the Global South rather than the postsocialist space. Yet, disabled lives provide a great lens for studying the great social and political transformations of the region. The edited volume Disability in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union: History, policy and everyday life is evidence for an emerging interest surrounding disability in Eastern Europe, and it provides an insightful overview of up-to-date research on a wide range of historical and contemporary topics concerning people with disabilities in postSoviet societies. The editors bring together a well-balanced collection of various country studies by experienced and junior researchers from the region and abroad. This composition provides clear evidence of the highly diverse and prolific field of disability research in Eastern Europe today.
2023 •
This paper explores the relevance of the decolonial approach for analyses of postsocialist disablement, taking as its test case the analytical tool of the 'postsocialist disability matrix' (Mladenov, 2018). The question we pose is how much decolonial critique can the analyses of postsocialist disablement embrace without becoming reactionary amidst growing illiberalism and social abandonment in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE)? We provide an overview of postsocialist illiberalism, assess critically some central arguments in decolonial disability studies, and outline the production of 'southern bodies/minds' as a key feature of social abandonment in CEE. We conclude that decolonising disability in the postsocialist region needs to go beyond the North vs. South binary to account for the specific experiences of disabled people inhabiting the 'poor North'. Given these considerations, the double-edged critique implied in the original formulation of the 'postsocialist disability matrix' as scepticism towards both the state and the market could also help embrace the decolonising imperative while remaining sceptical towards both Northern and Southern theory production in disability studies.
This paper explores injustices experienced by disabled people in the postsocialist countries of Central and Eastern Europe. Drawing on Nancy Fraser’s theory of social justice, the analysis proposes a ‘matrix’ that reveals the negative impact of two factors – state socialist legacy and postsocialist neoliberalization – on disabled people’s parity of participation in three dimensions of justice – economic redistribution, cultural recognition, and political representation. The legacy of state socialism has underpinned: segregated service provision; medical-productivist understanding of disability for assessment purposes; denial of disability on everyday level; and weak disability organizing. Neoliberal restructuring has resulted in: retrenchment of disability support through decentralization, austerity, and workfare; stigmatization of ‘dependency’ through the discourse of ‘welfare dependency’; responsibilization of disabled people; and depoliticization of disability organizations by restricting their activities to service provision and incorporating them in structures of tokenistic participation. The analysis is informed by reports and academic studies of disability in the postsocialist region.
Man - Disability – Society
Michael Rembis and Natalia Pamuła, “Disability Studies in Poland: A View from the Humanities,” Man - Disability – Society 31, 1 (Winter, 2016): 5 – 23.2016 •
In this essay, Rembis and Pamuła explore the state of the field of disability studies, making special note of its relevance to the study of disability in Poland. Special consideration is given to the critical importance of the dialectical relationship between disability activism and lived experiences and the growth of disability studies as an academic field. Disability and disability rights have become global concerns. Since the 1970s, disabled activists and their allies in countries around the world have been working to redefine disability and secure the rights of disabled people. The disability rights movement has consisted of direct action protests, legal challenges, advocacy, and education. An outgrowth of this diverse movement has been the rise of the interdisciplinary field of disability studies. In this essay, we will offer a brief overview of disability studies, highlighting the importance of the “social model” of disability and the critiques it has engendered. We will then turn to a discussion of “global disability studies,” focusing specifically on Poland, revealing the fruitful ways in which insights from the humanities can be brought to bear on the lived experiences and filmic and literary representations of disability and disabled people.
Jazz como bandera de resistencia en la revolución cultural amplificada fonográficamente
Jazz como bandera de resistencia en la revolución cultural amplificada fonográficamente2019 •
2024 •
Journal of Jewish Studies
Tzahi Weiss, ‘The Letter of Isaac the Blind to Nahmanides and Jonah Gerondi in its Historical Context’, Journal of Jewish Studies, 72-2 (2021), 327-3482021 •
The Economic History Review
The Commerce of Smyrna in the Eighteenth Century (1700-1820)1994 •
Surgical Neurology International
Impact of local treatment on survival from hematological malignancies causing spinal cord compression2020 •
International Journal of Chemical Studies
Effect of moringa (Moringa oleifera) leaf meal on performance of Murrah buffalo calves2019 •
Kafkas Universitesi Veteriner Fakultesi Dergisi
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Gedenkschrift Wolfgang Reuschel. Akten des III. Arabistischen Kolloquiums
doch das gemeine Volk sagt ,empereo(u)r'"! Nachrichten über Europa aus dem Kitäb al-Mugrib1994 •
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Registration of ‘DALSA 0605’ St. Augustinegrass2014 •
Revista de ciencia política
Aristóteles y la nueva ciencia política de Alexis de tocqueville2023 •
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Detection of anti-streptococcal, antienolase, and anti-neural antibodies in subjects with early-onset psychiatric disorders2015 •