Does a life earn its value by being productive? Using the history of disability and women's liberation activism in twentieth-century Japan, we'll look at how that assumption shaped attitudes to disabled lives, and meet some of the people who questioned it. Studying East Asia is how you reach their voices.
What gives a life its value? One common answer, familiar across many modern societies, is that a life earns its worth by being productive: by working, contributing, being useful. This session asks what happens when you question that assumption. In twentieth-century Japan, as in Britain and elsewhere, the idea that some lives were less productive, and so less worth sustaining, ran through law, medicine and everyday attitudes, with real consequences for some disabled people. It introduces a few of those who pushed back, disabled activists and parts of the women's liberation movement, who responded in different ways and did not always agree. What they questioned was not just particular policies but the deeper notion that productivity is what makes a life matter, something you will get to think through yourself. Along the way, you will see how studying East Asia can open up voices that are otherwise hard to reach.
This session also includes a Q&A with our academic staff and current students.
If you would like to book a place to attend this session, please click the 'Visit Website' button to be taken to our online booking form.