Open cultural studies: Strong and Weak Theories of Capacity: Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, Disability, and Contemporary Capacity Theorizing

Vaahtera, Touko

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fullscreen: Strong and Weak Theories of Capacity: Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, Disability, and Contemporary Capacity Theorizing / Vaahtera, Touko (CC BY)

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Title:: Open cultural studies

Publication:: Warsaw, Poland: De Gruyter Open

Note:: Open Access; Namensnennung 4.0 International

Scope:: Online-Ressource

ISSN:: 2451-3474

ZDB-ID:: 2900389-1

VÖBB-Katalog:: 35283932

Keywords:: Zeitschrift

Classification:: Sozialwissenschaften

Collection:: Sozialwissenschaften

Copyright:: Rights reserved

Accessibility:: Free Access

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Author:: Vaahtera, Touko

Title:: Strong and Weak Theories of Capacity: Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, Disability, and Contemporary Capacity Theorizing

Publication:: Warsaw, Poland: De Gruyter Open, 2024

Language:: English

Information:: Abstract: This article puts forward two ways of understanding capacity: strong and weak theories. The strong theory of capacity self-evidently connects capacity with ideal humanity or pedestalizes it as an analytic concept, while the weak theory of capacity allows space for interpretations about life unfolding without murmurings about capacity. By considering capacity in a way that distinguishes these two theories, the article contributes to contemporary thinking in which capacity has emerged as a key concept. My perspective draws on Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick’s ideas about strong and weak theories and is further influenced by methodological issues raised by disability studies scholars. I first recall Sedgwick’s ideas about strong theories, after which I focus on how capacity assumptions operate in Silvan Tomkins’ work, which has had an important impact on Sedgwick. I then identify two recent contributions in disability studies in the area of capacity-themed theorizing. I interrogate the ways in which these contributions share the habits of the strong theory and how they escape its problematic tendencies. Toward the end of the article, I outline how the weak theory of capacity could contribute new perspectives to the contemporary discussion.

Scope:: Online-Ressource

Note:: Open Access; Archivierung/Langzeitarchivierung gewährleistet

Keywords:: capacity ; disability studies ; Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick ; methodology ; Silvan Tomkins

Classification:: Sozialwissenschaften; Sonstiges

URN:: urn:nbn:de:101:1-2405021721097.611798181646

Collection:: Sozialwissenschaften; Sonstiges

Copyright:: CC BY

Accessibility:: Free Access

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fullscreen: Strong and Weak Theories of Capacity: Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, Disability, and Contemporary Capacity Theorizing / Vaahtera, Touko (CC BY) Access restriction There is no access restriction for this record. Copyright CC BY: Attribution 4.0 International. You can find more information here.

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