In this Book
- The Staff of Oedipus: Transforming Disability in Ancient Greece
- Book
- 2010
- Published by: University of Michigan Press
- Series: Corporealities: Discourses of Disability
summary
Ancient Greek images of disability permeate the Western consciousness: Homer, Teiresias, and Oedipus immediately come to mind. But The Staff of Oedipus looks at disability in the ancient world through the lens of disability studies, and reveals that our interpretations of disability in the ancient world are often skewed. These false assumptions in turn lend weight to modern-day discriminatory attitudes toward disability.
Martha L. Rose considers a range of disabilities and the narratives surrounding them. She examines not only ancient literature, but also papyrus, skeletal material, inscriptions, sculpture, and painting, and draws upon modern work, including autobiographies of people with disabilities, medical research, and theoretical work in disability studies. Her study uncovers the realities of daily life for people with disabilities in ancient Greece and challenges the translation of the term adunatos (unable) as "disabled," with all its modern associations.
Table of Contents
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- List of Abbreviations
- p. xiii
- Introduction
- pp. 1-8
- 1 The Landscape of Disability
- pp. 9-28
- 2 Killing Defective Babies
- pp. 29-49
- 5 Degrees of Sight and Blindness
- pp. 79-94
- References
- pp. 131-148
Additional Information
ISBN
9780472026265
Related ISBN(s)
9780472035731, 9780472113392
MARC Record
OCLC
705944521
Pages
168
Launched on MUSE
2012-01-01
Language
English
Open Access
No