Event Details

Ria Cheyne (Liverpool Hope) discusses her research on literature and disability studies for the Department of English Literature and Creative Writing's inaugural EDI seminar.

Genre-Shaped Stories of Disability: Literature and Disability Studies

The literary inheritance of contemporary genre fiction is a complex and shifting network of rules, conventions, tropes, and motifs—including those directly affecting the depiction of disability. Often, genre fiction is viewed as inherently limited or restricted, and consequently devalued. In contrast, I suggest that these very restrictions can enable the creation of narratives that challenge dominant discourses around disability. Examining these genre-shaped stories of disability can open up new insights into both disability’s literary history and the workings of genres themselves. Drawing on my own experience as a scholar working at the intersection of literary studies and disability studies, I conclude with some wider reflections on equality, diversity, and inclusion in literary studies.

*please consider wearing a mask for this event (unless exempt)*

Ria Cheyne started her academic career as a literature scholar researching science fiction and fantasy. Post PhD she developed specialisms in other popular genres and in disability representation in literature. This led to a postdoc in Disability Studies, and she has worked in both areas ever since. Her monograph Disability, Literature, Genre: Representation and Affect in Contemporary Fiction was published by Liverpool University Press in 2019, and selected for open access publication via Knowledge Unlatched. Currently she is a Senior Lecturer in Disability Studies at Liverpool Hope University. She identifies as a literature scholar, a disability studies scholar, and/or a medical humanities scholar depending on the time of day.