Tobin Siebers (January 29, 1953 – January 29, 2015) was an American professor of literature, art, and design at the University of Michigan, and a key figure in the development of disability studies.

Early life and education edit

Siebers was born January 29, 1953 in Kaukauna, Wisconsin, the son of Harold Siebers and Marion Jansen Siebers.[1] He was diagnosed with poliomyelitis at the age of two years old and lived with post-polio syndrome for the rest of his life. Siebers graduated from Kaukauna High School in 1971.[2] He earned a bachelor's degree in comparative literature from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1975, MA in comparative literature from the State University of New York at Binghamton in 1976, and a PhD in comparative literature from Johns Hopkins University in 1980.[3]

Career edit

Siebers first wrote about his experience living with polio in his 1998 essay "My Withered Limb."[4] which was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 1999.[5] His important books include Disability Theory (2008) and Disability Aesthetics (2010). In Disability Theory Siebers writes that "Disability is not a physical or mental defect but a cultural and minority identity." [6] Performance artist and disability activist Petra Kuppers referred to these works as "field defining."[7] He received the James T. Neubacher Award in 2009, from the Council for Disability Concerns.[7]

Publications edit

  • The Ethics of Criticism (1990)[8]
  • Cold War Criticism and the Politics of Skepticism (1993)[9]
  • Heterotopia: Postmodern Utopia and the Body Politic (1994, editor)[10]
  • "My Withered Limb" (1998)[4]
  • The Body Aesthetic: From Fine Art to Body Modification (2000, editor)[11]
  • "Disability in Theory: From Social Constructionism to the New Realism of the Body" (2001)[12]
  • "Disability as Masquerade" (2004)[13]
  • Disability Theory (2008)[14]
  • Zerbrochene Schönheit (2009)[15]
  • Disability Aesthetics (2010)
  • "A Sexual Culture for Disabled People" (2012)[16]
  • "Disability and the Theory of Complex Embodiment: For Identity Politics in a New Register" (2016)[17]
  • "Returning the Social to the Social Model" (2019)[18]

Death and legacy edit

Siebers died in 2015, at the age of 62.[7][19] His papers are in the collection of the University of Michigan's Bentley Historical Library.[3] In 2015, the University of Michigan Press and Department of English Language and Literature established The Tobin Siebers Prize for Disability Studies in the Humanities, for best book-length manuscript on a topic of pressing urgency to disability studies in the humanities.[20]

References edit

  1. ^ "Mrs. Harold Siebers". The Post-Crescent. 1987-07-10. p. 22. Retrieved 2024-05-31 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ "Kaukauna High Lists Top Students". The Post-Crescent. 1971-06-03. p. 28. Retrieved 2024-05-31 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ a b Virakhovskaya, Olga (February 2017). "Finding Aid: Tobin Siebers papers, 1983-2013 (majority within 1986-2007)". University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library. Retrieved 2024-05-23.
  4. ^ a b Siebers, Tobin (Winter 2021). "My Withered Limb". Michigan Quarterly Review. Retrieved 2024-05-14.
  5. ^ Siebers, Tobin (October 25, 2011). "Tobin Siebers: 2011 Fall Performing The Body Politic: Transgressions, Interventions, and Expressive Culture". Scripps College. Retrieved 2024-05-23.
  6. ^ Raughley, Lynne (April 14, 2015). "Disability studies prize honors the late Tobin Siebers". Michigan Record. Retrieved 2024-05-23.
  7. ^ a b c Kuppers, Petra (January 30, 2015). "Remembering Tobin Siebers, English professor, disability studies advocate | The University Record". record.umich.edu. Retrieved 2024-01-02.
  8. ^ Siebers, Tobin (1990). The Ethics of Criticism. Cornell University Press. hdl:20.500.12657/62066. ISBN 978-1-5017-2141-0.
  9. ^ Siebers, Tobin (1993-04-29). Cold War Criticism and the Politics of Skepticism. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-535992-3.
  10. ^ Siebers, Tobin (1994). Heterotopia: Postmodern Utopia and the Body Politic. University of Michigan Press. ISBN 978-0-472-10557-1.
  11. ^ Siebers, Tobin (2000). The Body Aesthetic: From Fine Art to Body Modification. University of Michigan Press. ISBN 978-0-472-08673-3.
  12. ^ Siebers, Tobin (2001). "Disability in Theory: From Social Constructionism to the New Realism of the Body". American Literary History. 13 (4): 737–754. doi:10.1093/alh/13.4.737. ISSN 0896-7148. JSTOR 3054594.
  13. ^ Siebers, Tobin (March 2004). "Disability as Masquerade". Literature and Medicine. 23 (1): 1–22. doi:10.1353/lm.2004.0010. ISSN 1080-6571. PMID 15264507.
  14. ^ Siebers, Tobin (2008-06-16). Disability Theory. University of Michigan Press. ISBN 978-0-472-05039-0.
  15. ^ Levin, Mike; Siebers, Tobin (2010-06-01). "The Art of Disability: An Interview with Tobin Siebers". Disability Studies Quarterly. 30 (2). doi:10.18061/dsq.v30i2.1263. ISSN 2159-8371.
  16. ^ Siebers, Tobin (2012-01-04), McRuer, Robert; Mollow, Anna (eds.), "A Sexual Culture for Disabled People", Sex and Disability, Duke University Press, pp. 37–53, doi:10.1515/9780822394877-003, ISBN 978-0-8223-9487-7, retrieved 2024-05-31
  17. ^ Siebers, Tobin. "Disability and the Theory of Complex Embodiment: For Identity Politics in a New Register" in Lennard J. Davis, ed., The Disability Studies Reader (Taylor & Francis 2016): 313-332. ISBN 9781317397861
  18. ^ Siebers, Tobin. "Returning the Social to the Social Model" in David T. Mitchell, Susan Antabi, and Sharon L. Snyder, eds., The Matter of Disability: Materiality, Biopolitics, Crip Affect (University of Michigan Press 2019): .39-47. ISBN 9780472054114
  19. ^ Northen, Michael (2019). "Tobin Siebers: A Tribute". Wordgathering: A Journal of Disability Poetry and Literature (33).
  20. ^ Watkinson, Charles (January 30, 2016). "War on Autism awarded inaugural Tobin Siebers Prize for Disability Studies | University of Michigan Press". press.umich.edu. Retrieved 2024-05-15.