Decolonising disability studies? Developing south asia-specific approaches to understanding disability

Abstract

The dominant theoretical frameworks of Disability Studies (DS) have emerged historically in relation both to theoretical trends in the Western academy and to the material circumstances-from industrialization to civil rights movements-of the Global North. At a moment when the continuing hegemony of Western scholarship has led to increasing calls for a decolonization of the curriculum, this article explores the applicability of existing frameworks for studying disability in the South Asian context. It also asks whether culturally specific approaches might be more appropriate and, if so, considers how those might be fruitfully applied without ghettoizing regional DS.