This book brings much needed attention to disabled anthropologists, making clear that “disabled” and “anthropologist” belong together. The disabled anthropologists who contribute to this volume and on which these chapters focus have refused erasure from a profession that would ignore their critiques and creativity. Applying autoethnographic, photographic, and poetic venues, the contributors assess the drawbacks of their anthropology training programs, the limitations of accessibility practices in the academy, and how their own embodiments and the contingencies of their research and research settings have facilitated the discovery of novel methodologies and insights. Collectively the volume’s contributors demonstrate a shared concern for the wellbeing of disabled ethnographers and interlocutors, whether working with Colombian refugees in Ecuador or those living with chronic pain in Michigan.
The Disabled Anthropologist is essential reading for students and scholars working in cultural and medical anthropology.