Lindsey Row-Heyveld was answering questions following her talk \u201cCareless Arden: Ablebodiedness in \u2018As You Like It.\u2019\u201d Orlando\u2019s \u2018bro-ness\u2019 was in reference to the role hyper-masculinity played in constructions of able-bodiedness in the Shakespeare play.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n The February 12 talk explored the valorization of able-bodiedness, and how conditions and norms of \u201ccarelessness\u201d produce the category of disability in early modern society and theatre. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n The presentation was part of a series of discussions organized by Uncommon Bodies, a research and reading group organized by Jennifer E. Row, assistant professor of French at the University of Minnesota, and Macalester English Department\u2019s own Assistant Professor Penelope Geng.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAs Lindsey\u2019s arguing, we\u2019re acting like normative things are naturalized, like able-bodiedness,\u201d Simone Chess, the second presenter at the event, said. Referring to her own earlier talk she commented, \u201cwe\u2019re careless about sex and in doing that we ourselves, just like I\u2019m saying early moderns did, are not paying attention to the ways that disability knowledges are informing the ways that we\u2019re having or thinking about sex.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Chess\u2019 talk \u201cHacking Sex In The Renaissance\u201d went deep into the networks of knowledge and experience Queer and Disabled people have about sex, which are perceived by cis-hetero society as allowing them to unlock \u201cnext level sexual proficiencies.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Professor Geng has been working on Uncommon Bodies with Row over the last two years, engaging with a number of Disability and Early Modern Studies scholars with the aim of fostering community, discussion, and guidance in the burgeoning field.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOur intention was to create a place where we can find a community of people who are interested in early modern studies as well as disability studies and performance and embodiment and emotions,\u201d Professor Geng said. \u201cI’ve always thought of uncommon bodies as having these different thematic interests and disability, embodiment, emotions, performance they’re all intertwined.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n The original spark of Uncommon Bodies came during Geng\u2019s independent research. Near the end of writing and drafting her book on sabbatical in Spring 2019, Geng found her interests gravitating towards the history of the body and emotions, and the ways they play out in early modern legal systems and society. To explore this deeper, she wanted to connect with the Twin Cities scholarly community on disability, embodiment, and performance. Speaking to JB Shank, a professor of the history of science at the University of Minnesota, JB put Geng in contact with Professor Row, and a suggestion to utilize funding from the Consortium for the Study of the Premodern World (CSPW) to set up a cross-campus reading workshop.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Professor Geng was excited for the group to exist beyond the scope of just Macalester but didn\u2019t want Uncommon Bodies to be exclusive to <\/span>any<\/span><\/i> institution.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI was adamant that it wouldn’t be just a Macalester thing or just a University of Minnesota thing, but that we would collaborate and decentralize, like decamp to various places in the Twin Cities,\u201d Geng said. \u201cI’m such a fan of MIA, Minneapolis Institute of Art. I always feel so at home in their galleries and their spaces, so I thought well maybe we could have one of our meetings at MIA\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Uncommon](\"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/603\/2021\/03\/uncommon-bodies-poster-225x300.jpeg\")
![\"penelope](\"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/603\/2021\/03\/penelope-geng-headshot-259x300.jpg\")