Abstract:
Impairment and disability are fundamental human experiences across cultures, yet disability remains curiously under-studied and under-theorized within anthropology, particularly within physical anthropology and archaeology. Why is this the case and how might this change? This paper critically examines anthropology’s varying detachment from and engagement with disability studies up to the present. It is suggested that a holistic approach which integrates data and insights from archaeology, physical anthropology, and sociocultural anthropology would offer the means for an important and distinctly anthropological contribution to the study of disability in the past and present. Lessons are taken from previous anthropological work on women/gender and Indigenous peoples. It is argued that a focus on theoretically-situated bodies, increased inclusion of people with disabilities, and a demonstrated relevance to current disability issues will be essential aspects of an integrated ‘anthropology of disability’.
