PhD Studentship in Cultural Histories of Eco-Ableism, CAHRT, UKRI-funded through the Centre for Net Positive Health and Climate Solutions

Project Description:

This funded Humanities PhD project will be conducted as part of the new Centre for Net Positive Health and Climate Solutions. The project will focus on cultural histories of eco-ableism, with a specific focus on language, ethics, and/or linguistic justice. The project would suit a candidate with a knowledge of disability studies and/or environmental humanities. The specific remit of the project is open.

Although eco-ableism is a particularly recent term, its use sharpens focus on what language such as ‘natural’, ‘right’, ‘good’, ‘accessible’, and ‘advocacy’ looks like in activism, policy-work, research, and climate discourse, and allows for more nuanced discussion of intersectional environmental justice (see one definition below). The PhD will build on scholarship that connects disability studies with environmental humanities (cf. e.g. Ray and Sibara [eds] 2017) to outline a series of case studies from across history, literature and/or the arts; it is flexible in terms of which periods, what media, or which geographical area(s) form the focus of the research. It takes as its lead the idea expressed in the quote by Ray, Sibara and Alaimo that appears at the end of this section on the significance of humanities-thinking in this area.

Whilst histories of disabilities are notoriously difficult given their relationality to concepts of ‘normal’, this research will contextualise normative assumptions in the chosen area of focus, and think with historical, fictional, and/or linguistic material to add cultural and historical depth to ableist thought within environmental contexts. Disability can and should be understood in its broadest sense (to include, for example, environmental illnesses, chronic and invisible conditions, neurodivergency). Interdisciplinarity is welcomed.

Applicants should outline in the research proposal the material on which their work will concentrate, what methodologies they will use, and how the work fits into the overall aims of the Centre. Their research will intersect with a broader focus in the Centre on Equity, Ethics and Justice, and especially work by the supervisors, Katharine Earnshaw and Stewart Barr, on ethical complexities that arise when considering climate change and health together.

The Centre is partnered with the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), the National Trust, Forest Research, and the Met Office amongst others, and the successful applicant will have many opportunities to interact with these and other stakeholders. The Centre will be holding annual Summer Schools within its lifetime; these will be aimed at supporting early career researchers (ECRs) to acquire skills and confidence to collaborate, and work in an interdisciplinary, engaged way. There will also be opportunities to work with the Centre’s Cultural Producer should the candidate wish.

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