Disability Duplicity and the Formative Cultural Identity Politics of Generation X

This book explores the formative cultural identity politics of disability via cultural stations of UK popular culture, such as action figures, children's books, television miniseries, comics, comedy films, teenage drama and sitcoms, the punk rock movement, and alternative comedy. It reveals flash if not fleeting representations that, when centralised, clarify patterns of duplicity, and will be of interest to scholars and students of disability studies, sociology, toy studies, comic studies, humour studies, television studies, popular music studies, gender studies, literary studies, and cultural studies.

Format: Hardback
Length: 100 pages
Publication date: 21 September 2023
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Disability is a multifaceted phenomenon that encompasses history, futurity, culture, society, practice, and theory. It is a profound desire for life that forces the body and mind into each new day, often kicking and screaming. This essay employs autocritical discourse analysis, a novel research method that blends elements of critical discourse analysis (CDA) and autoethnography, to investigate the formative cultural identity politics of disability through cultural stations of UK popular culture. These cultural stations include a wide range of media, such as action figures, children's books, television miniseries, comics, comedy films, teenage drama and sitcoms, the punk rock movement, and alternative comedy. While these cultural stations may vary in their form, from toys and comics to aggressive music and chaotic sitcoms, they are all analyzed with a focus on the language and tropes of disability. Surprisingly, many of these works are not remembered as portrayals of disability, but the book's analysis reveals fleeting yet significant representations that, when centralized, shed light on patterns of duplicity. Through the language of power and the power of language, all these texts are found to have contributed to the formative cultural identity politics of disability.

This essay will be of interest to scholars and students in disability studies, sociology, toy studies, comic studies, humor studies, television studies, popular music studies, gender studies, literary studies, and cultural studies. The study of disability offers valuable insights into the complexities of human experience and the ways in which society shapes and is shaped by individuals with different abilities. By exploring the cultural stations of UK popular culture, this essay contributes to the growing body of research on disability and identity, highlighting the importance of language, power, and representation in shaping cultural perceptions and attitudes.

Weight: 380g
Dimension: 234 x 156 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781032553986