Silencing, Normalcy, and the Limits of the Human in History
Friday 15 May 2026, 10:00–12:00
Seminar Room 00.063, Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities
All welcome
This week explores how “the human” is historically constructed through power. Trouillot shows how history is shaped by silences; Davis explains how “normalcy” defines who counts as human; and Kudlick demonstrates how disability has been systematically excluded from historical narratives. Through this, we ask who gets to be a subject of history and who is rendered invisible?
Readings:
Davis, Lennard J. “Constructing Normalcy.” In The Disability Studies Reader, edited by Lennard J. Davis, 9–28. New York: Routledge, 1995.
Kudlick, Catherine J. “Disability History: Why We Need Another ‘Other.’” The American Historical Review 108, no. 3 (June 2003): 763–793. https://doi.org/10.1086/ahr/108.3.763
Trouillot, Michel-Rolph. Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History. Boston: Beacon Press, 1995.
Feel free to bring your own lunch.
Please let us know if you have any questions by emailing huishu.wang@stx.ox.ac.uk
Humans in Humanities Network is part of TORCH Student Networks
