Independence and Collectivity
Configurations of Disability Performance
1st Edition
Will be published approx. on 4. September 2026
Book
Hardback
304 pages
978-1-041-02165-0 (ISBN)
Description
What do independence and collectivity have to do with dis/ability performance? This book offers a groundbreaking interdisciplinary exploration of how these two concepts intersect, challenge, and reshape our understanding of performance within disability contexts.
Inside, readers will find a rich collection of essays that examine dis/ability performance both as artistic and activist practice and as a concept tied to capacity, ableism, and cultural resistance. The book interrogates the tension between individual and collective approaches to performance through four distinct lenses: crip and disability theory, which emphasizes interdependence in everyday life and disability arts; performance studies, which unpack ableist imperatives and dis/abled practices; (auto)ethnographic perspectives, revealing contradictions and negotiations around independence and identity; and practical strategies for navigating these dynamics within disability communities. Together, these contributions invite readers to rethink independence and collectivity as fluid, interconnected forces shaping cultural and political resistance.
This volume is essential reading for students and scholars in disability studies, theatre and performance, film and media studies, sociology, cultural anthropology, American studies, and queer and gender studies. Anyone interested in disability arts, activism, and the politics of performance will find this book an invaluable resource.
Inside, readers will find a rich collection of essays that examine dis/ability performance both as artistic and activist practice and as a concept tied to capacity, ableism, and cultural resistance. The book interrogates the tension between individual and collective approaches to performance through four distinct lenses: crip and disability theory, which emphasizes interdependence in everyday life and disability arts; performance studies, which unpack ableist imperatives and dis/abled practices; (auto)ethnographic perspectives, revealing contradictions and negotiations around independence and identity; and practical strategies for navigating these dynamics within disability communities. Together, these contributions invite readers to rethink independence and collectivity as fluid, interconnected forces shaping cultural and political resistance.
This volume is essential reading for students and scholars in disability studies, theatre and performance, film and media studies, sociology, cultural anthropology, American studies, and queer and gender studies. Anyone interested in disability arts, activism, and the politics of performance will find this book an invaluable resource.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Academic
Illustrations
28 s/w Photographien bzw. Rasterbilder, 28 s/w Abbildungen
28 Halftones, black and white; 28 Illustrations, black and white
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-041-02165-0 (9781041021650)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Elena Backhausen | Mirjam Kreuser | Benjamin Wihstutz
Independence and Collectivity
Configurations of Disability Performance
E-Book
approx. 09/2026
Routledge
€60.49
Not yet available
Elena Backhausen | Mirjam Kreuser | Benjamin Wihstutz
Independence and Collectivity
Configurations of Disability Performance
E-Book
approx. 09/2026
Routledge
€60.49
Not yet available
Persons
Benjamin Wihstutz is an Associate professor of Theatre and Performance Studies at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz and Principal Investigator of the CRC-project "Disability Performance and Studies in Human Differentiation"
Elena Backhausen is a post-doctoral research associate at the Department of Film, Theatre, Media and Cultural Studies at the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz and a member of the Collaborative Research Centre (CRC1482) "Studies in Human Differentiation"
Mirjam Kreuser is a research associate in the Department of Film, Theatre, Media and Cultural Studies at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz and an inclusion officer at Goethe-University Frankfurt. In Mainz, she is working on her PhD thesis on mental distress and theatre.
Elena Backhausen is a post-doctoral research associate at the Department of Film, Theatre, Media and Cultural Studies at the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz and a member of the Collaborative Research Centre (CRC1482) "Studies in Human Differentiation"
Mirjam Kreuser is a research associate in the Department of Film, Theatre, Media and Cultural Studies at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz and an inclusion officer at Goethe-University Frankfurt. In Mainz, she is working on her PhD thesis on mental distress and theatre.
Content
List of Contributors
Acknowledgements
List of Figures
01 Introduction
Backhausen, Elena / Kreuser, Mirjam / Wihstutz, Benjamin
Part I: Performing and Competing
02 Being tethered in a network of interdependencies - Non-human entities in
visually impaired sports performances constituting subjectivity
Backhausen, Elena
03 Climbing for independence: Mount Kilimanjaro as a symbolic site of
albinism performance
Krings, Matthias
04 Age and/as Disability: Johnny Cash in Isolation
Gehrmann, Ruth
Part II: Strategies and Workarounds
05 Voodling, Camerer: Image is a(n Autistic) Verb
Dind, Julie
06 One for Sorrow, Two for Joy: Cultural patterns of obsessive reality
construction and a performative model for mental distress
Kreuser, Mirjam
07 Deaf Gaming: Performance between autonomy and collectivity in online
gamer communities
Ochsner, Beate/ Spoehrer, Markus
Part III: Care and Community
08 Sexual Independence as Collective Performance in Sex Education and
Assistance for Disabled People
Boll, Tobias/ Brunnengraeber, Miriam
09 Care, Community, and Contingencies: Artistic Practice Rooted in Access
Muehlemann, Nina
10 Discipline - Control - Care. On the History of Spectatorship
Wihstutz, Benjamin
Part IV: Politics and Policies
11 'We travel together in an untogether way': independence and collectivity in
learning disabled theatre
McCaffrey, Tony
12 Questioning independence and inclusion: the thoughts of a performer with
differentiated body
Monteiro, Felipe
13 Collectivity and crip resistance practice at the cultural center Sjiraffen in
Trondheim, Norway
Glorstad, Vibeke
14 Outline for a disability critique property
Gissen, David
Index
Acknowledgements
List of Figures
01 Introduction
Backhausen, Elena / Kreuser, Mirjam / Wihstutz, Benjamin
Part I: Performing and Competing
02 Being tethered in a network of interdependencies - Non-human entities in
visually impaired sports performances constituting subjectivity
Backhausen, Elena
03 Climbing for independence: Mount Kilimanjaro as a symbolic site of
albinism performance
Krings, Matthias
04 Age and/as Disability: Johnny Cash in Isolation
Gehrmann, Ruth
Part II: Strategies and Workarounds
05 Voodling, Camerer: Image is a(n Autistic) Verb
Dind, Julie
06 One for Sorrow, Two for Joy: Cultural patterns of obsessive reality
construction and a performative model for mental distress
Kreuser, Mirjam
07 Deaf Gaming: Performance between autonomy and collectivity in online
gamer communities
Ochsner, Beate/ Spoehrer, Markus
Part III: Care and Community
08 Sexual Independence as Collective Performance in Sex Education and
Assistance for Disabled People
Boll, Tobias/ Brunnengraeber, Miriam
09 Care, Community, and Contingencies: Artistic Practice Rooted in Access
Muehlemann, Nina
10 Discipline - Control - Care. On the History of Spectatorship
Wihstutz, Benjamin
Part IV: Politics and Policies
11 'We travel together in an untogether way': independence and collectivity in
learning disabled theatre
McCaffrey, Tony
12 Questioning independence and inclusion: the thoughts of a performer with
differentiated body
Monteiro, Felipe
13 Collectivity and crip resistance practice at the cultural center Sjiraffen in
Trondheim, Norway
Glorstad, Vibeke
14 Outline for a disability critique property
Gissen, David
Index