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Disability/Difference

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Encyclopedia of Medical Anthropology

Introduction

This entry has three primary aims: (1) to provide a brief overview of the kinds of bodily and behavioral differences perceived as anomalous in a range of societies and the various social responses to these differences; (2) to review and critique research and theory in the anthropology of impairment-disability; and (3) to suggest several conceptual advancements that would move this area of study forward.

Cross-Cultural Review of Responses to Bodily and Behavioral Differences

As a broad inclusive category, and from a strict constructionist perspective, disability exists only in locally specific relation to Western European notions of medicalization, employment, and welfare (Groce, 1999; Whyte & Ingstad, 1995). Yet, some range of physical and behavioral differences are recognized in all societies and there are often social consequences that follow from this recognition. While it is of paramount importance to elucidate local contexts, knowledge, and responses in the study of...

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Acknowledgments

I would like to acknowledge the critical feedback of Devva Kasnitz in assisting me in formulating several ideas in this entry. Additionally, I wish to thank the members of our course, Anthropology and Disability, at the University of California, Berkeley, for their spirited discussion of some of the key issues, which also assisted in clarification.

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  1. Russell P. Shuttleworth
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  1. Human Relations Area Files, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA

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Shuttleworth, R.P. (2004). Disability/Difference. In: Ember, C.R., Ember, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Medical Anthropology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-29905-X_42

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-29905-X_42

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-306-47754-6

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