Rhetorics of difference: Julia Kristeva and disability

Abstract

In recent years, the philosopher Julia Kristeva has entered the field of disability, both in her academic capacity and as an adviser to the French government on policy and legislative issues. This is not only an indication of Kristeva's evolving research interests, but also a symptom of disability's increasingly prominent status as a topic of interdisciplinary inquiry. This article undertakes an examination of Kristeva's approach to disability, and of its implications. Kristeva's approach draws strongly on her philosophical and psychoanalytic background, and aims to bring the disabled and non-disabled closer together, ending the marginalization and isolation of people with disabilities. Rhetorical analysis of one of Kristeva's programmatic articles, ‘Liberty, Equality, Fraternity and… Vulnerability’ however, shows that Kristeva's approach to disability reifies the very conceptual divides and experiential dichotomies she attempts to transcend. Disability is represented as essentially catastrophic and essentially tied to pain and isolation. This approach ultimately worsens rather than improves the grounds for social change.

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