Blog Prompts: Eli Clare

Hi Everyone,

Below are some questions you may consider responding to in your posts for this week. I have also posted the lecture slides on the history of the freak show on Angel for your reference.


For "Freaks and Queers"

1) Why do some marginalized groups reclaim offensive names or labels?

2) Why is it that Clare has difficulty in reclaiming the identity "freak"? Why, for her, is this identity not a source of pride?

3) How does "freakdom" today differ from freak shows of the past?

4) What is the difference between witness and pride? Why is the difference important to a discussion of freak shows?

5) What similarities exist between the identities "freak" and "queer"?


For "Reading Across the Grain"

1) What do the three advertisements Clare discusses say about people with disabilities?

2) Why does Clare take issue with the medical model of disability (the idea that disabilities need cures)?

3) What does the general public usually assume about the sexualities of disabled people?

4) What problematic and liberatory aspects of Ellen Sthol's images does Clare identify?

5) What does it mean to "read across the grain"?

6) Why does Clare include a discussion of the photo of disability activist Ed Roberts at the end of the chapter?


For Clare's poem "Tremors"

1) What representation of disabled sexuality does Clare present in the poem "Tremors"? How does it relate to her arguments on disabled sexuality from "Reading Across the Grain"?

Have a great weekend!

--Jeff