Jennifer Scuro
I am an artist and a philosopher. I've published a (autobio)graphic novel and phenomenological analysis on miscarriage and pregnancy (Rowman & Littlefield, 2017) and an academic text, Addressing Ableism: Philosophical Questions via Disability Studies (Lexington Books 2017).
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By using a semi-phenomenological approach, specifically utilizing Heidegger in a limited way against Judith Butler’s idea of the ‘grievable life,’ I discuss the ready-to-handedness of the tool [zuhandenheit], the temporalization of tools, and, most importantly, the habilitation of the world through the prosthetic effect of tools. If, as Butler describes it, (to paraphrase) that the precariousness of life is distributed unevenly and unjustly as a protection from precarity for some while made more burdensome to others, then, what does this say in relation to the investments of global capital? What demands must be made on who has access and who is included in the idea of a livable and sustainable world? I want to also place significance in the phenomenon of the prosthetic as it transitions to artifact: In what ways do we hold on to the ableist affects of comfort and property as well as romanticize the world as past, compulsory able-bodiedness as having-been-habitable?
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By using a semi-phenomenological approach, specifically utilizing Heidegger in a limited way against Judith Butler’s idea of the ‘grievable life,’ I discuss the ready-to-handedness of the tool [zuhandenheit], the temporalization of tools, and, most importantly, the habilitation of the world through the prosthetic effect of tools. If, as Butler describes it, (to paraphrase) that the precariousness of life is distributed unevenly and unjustly as a protection from precarity for some while made more burdensome to others, then, what does this say in relation to the investments of global capital? What demands must be made on who has access and who is included in the idea of a livable and sustainable world? I want to also place significance in the phenomenon of the prosthetic as it transitions to artifact: In what ways do we hold on to the ableist affects of comfort and property as well as romanticize the world as past, compulsory able-bodiedness as having-been-habitable?
I argue that once in ‘the system’ via arrest, immigration detention, or via the school-to-prison pipeline, much like entering an enclosed labyrinth, even when an individual ‘gets out’ there is, in fact, no real exit strategy given to this system. Following Browder’s own self-reporting, his narrative is indicative of the larger existential issue of future citizenship post-incarceration. Simply stated, once marked as a ‘felon,’ (or ‘thug,’ or ‘criminal’ ) there is no cultural support for survivability or for sustainment. This is the inhumanity of the system.
Scuro, Jennifer. (Oct 2017). Addressing Ableism: Philosophical Questions via Disability Studies. MA: Lexington Books, pp. xxviii-xxxv, 156-160.
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I ask in the final chapter: how do you get over what you cannot get over? This inquiry is an attempt to defend the work of re-worlding oneself post-partum as well as to address the unspeakable and un-survivable aspects of childbearing expectations, especially when, despite all the labor and subjection, there is no child in the end.