Disability Studies
Disability Studies at the Chair for Medical Humanities
Disability Studies examine disability as a social, cultural, and historical category by going beyond merely medical definitions. At the chair for Medical Humanities, we pursue this perspective through methodologies and theoretical approaches adapted from history and literary and cultural studies. This allows us to address topics including the representation of physical and psychological differences in film, literature, and visual art, and what social norms and assumptions these representations imply.
One of our missions is to help establish the still nascent field of literary disability studies within German-speaking scholarship. Our participation in the medical curriculum keeps our research focused on topics relevant to medical practice, while our membership in the DFG-Network "Inclusive Philology" gives it international reach.
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DFG-Network "Inclusive Philology" (2023-2025)
Dr. Johannes Görbert and Prof. Dr. Dr. Martina King are members of the research network "Inclusive Philology. Literary Disability Studies in German-Speaking Countries", supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG).
Information
Runtime: 2023–2025
Members: 14+ researchers from Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the UK, and the USA.
Spokespeople: Prof. Dr. Klaus Birnstiel (LMU Munich) and Dr. Johannes Görbert (Fribourg)
Events: Five workshops and conferences held in Dortmund, Fribourg, Greifswald, Oldenburg, and Berlin
International Conference in Fribourg (November 2023)
In collaboration with members of the chair for Medical Humanities and Prof. Dr. Klaus Birnstiel, Dr. Johannes Görbert organised an international conference under the heading "Literary and Cultural Disability Studies. British and Continental Perspectives". The conference brought together around 30 participants. Keynote speeches were held by:
- Prof. Tom Shakespeare (London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine)
- Prof. Anne Waldschmidt (Universität zu Köln)
- Prof. Stuart Murray (University of Leeds)
- Prof. David Bolt (Liverpool Hope University)
The conference was supported by the DFG, the SNF, and the Centenary Research Fund of the Université de Fribourg.
Conclusion in Berlin (December 2025)
The network was wound up with a series of public lectures on "Literary Disability Studies. Aspects of an Inclusive Philology" held at the Free University (FU) Berlin between April and July of 2025, followed by a public cultural event at the Futurium Berlin in December.
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Publications in Disability Studies
Numerous publications have come into being through the DFG-Network and the research conducted at Fribourg, including:
Edited Volumes
- Klaus Birnstiel, Harriet Cooper, Johannes Görbert (Eds.): Literary and Cultural Disability Studies. British and Continental Perspectives. Baden-Baden: Nomos [forthcoming, 2026].
- Klaus Birnstiel, Johannes Görbert, Massimo Salgaro (Eds.): Disability Theatre. Conference Proceedings Villa Vigoni. [forthcoming, 2026]
Journal Special Editions
- "Das 18. Jahrhundert" (2026) – guest editors: Klaus Birnstiel and Johannes Görbert
- "KulturPoetik" (2026) – guest editors: Klaus Birnstiel and Johannes Görbert
- "LiLi – Zeitschrift für Literaturwissenschaft und Linguistik" (2027) – guest editors: Klaus Birnstiel and Johannes Görbert
Introductions and Anthologies
- Klaus Birnstiel, Johannes Görbert: Einführung in die Literary Disability Studies. Baden-Baden: Nomos [forthcoming, 2026/27]
- Klaus Birnstiel, Johannes Görbert, Urte Helduser, Linda Leskau, Christoph Schmitt-Maaß (Eds.): Anthologie Literary Disability Studies. Übersetzungen zentraler Theorietexte ins Deutsche. [forthcoming, 2027]
Selected Articles
- Johannes Görbert: «Vom ‘Ungeziefer’ zum ‘Superhelden’. Kontinuität und Wandel literarischer Darstellungen von Behinderung – am Beispiel von Franz Kafkas Die Verwandlung und ihrer literarischen Rezeption in der Disability Culture der Gegenwart bei Christoph Keller». In: KulturPoetik 24:1 (2024), S. 22–53.
- Johannes Görbert (mit Dominik Erdmann): «Teilhaben, Aufrütteln, Erzählen. Manfred Maschkes Briefeschreiben». In: Zeitschrift für Disability Studies 4:1 (2024).Link
- Martina King: «Helden, Heilige, Menschenzüchter: NS-Arztroman und biopolitische Diktatur». In: NAL historica. Wissenschaftshistorische und wissenschaftstheoretische Schriftenreihe der Leopoldina (Eds. Christina Brandt, Heiner Fangerau und Christoph Meinel).
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Postdoctoral Research: "Fragile Modernity. Literature and Disability in the Weimar Republic (1918-1933)"
Dr Johannes Görbert
The Weimar Republic was a period marked by radical departures across societal dimensions, including in the treatment of disabilities. It saw both the development of new legal and social means for rehabilitating the war-wounded, and the simultaneous spread of the eugenicist ideas on which the systematic murder of disabled people by the Nazi regime would later be based.
The project examines how German-language literature from this period processed and reflected the tensions between these societal currents. It argues that disability is a "marker of fragile modernity" – a paradigmatic point at which the contradictions of modernity crystallise.
Research Periodisation
1918–1923: War Wounded – The return of the wounded soldier in the work of Ernst Toller, Leonhard Frank, and others
1924–1929: Precariousness – Disability and social vulnerability during the republic's 'stable' phase.
1929–1933: Authoritarian Threats – How literature anticipated the coming catastrophe
Methodology
The project consists of the systematic application of methodologies from literary disability studies to historical German literature, a hitherto underexplored area of research. These are applied both to texts by canonical authors (e.g., Brecht, Döblin, Mann) and to texts by authors with disabilities, including Veza Canetti and Max Herrmann-Neiße.
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Teaching in Disability Studies
Medical Humanities: "Disability, Past and Present"
Dr. Johannes Görbert | Mandatory lecture for 3rd year undergraduate medical students
These lectures are aimed at developing sensitivity and respect towards patients with disabilities among future medics.
Part 1 – Present: Definitions of disability, UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities, inclusive education, SAMS guidelines
Part 2 – Past: Development of Medicalisation, NS – "euthanasia", Disability Rights Movement
Lecture Series "Literary Disability Studies: An Introduction from a Comparative Perspective"
Dr. Johannes Görbert | Autumn Semester 2025
Department for General and Comparative Literature
This series serves as an introduction to the theoretical and methodological fundamentals of literary disability studies. These are used to analyse and reflect on literary representations of disability spanning from ancient sources all the way to the products of contemporary disability culture.
Content
- Basic concepts: disability, ableism, intersectionality, etc.
- Theoretical models: medical vs. social models of disability
- Literary history: from the "monstrous" to "crip culture"
- Contemporary literature: autobiography, graphic novels, disability theatre
Lecture Series Berlin (April – July 2025)
In collaboration with the DFG-network, the Free University (FU) Berlin organised a public series of lectures under the heading "Literary Disability Studies. Aspects of an Inclusive Philology". The first event, a conversation with Swiss author Christoph Keller (Jeder Krüppel ein Superheld, 2020), was organised by Dr. Johannes Görbert.
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