Jennifer Row, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of French and Italian
University of Minnesota Twin Cities
Respondent: Patrick McKelvey, PhD, Department of Theatre Arts, University of Pittsburgh
Abstract: The Hôtel Royal des Invalides (1676) was originally built as a venerated residence for disabled veterans. The 17th century floor plans reveal another side of the story, however. Disabled veterans were taxonomized by their disabilities and forced into labor. Extensive disciplinary governance propagated ableist beliefs that the disabled are a “problem” that must be corralled away from the public to prevent mendicancy or disorder. When the institution became overcrowded, disabled veterans were often redeployed to distant colonies.
Dr. Row will examine this history in conjunction with fragments of late 17th century letters from Louisiana governors who rejected the disabled veterans redeployed there and disparaged the French women sent for sexual companionship and to populate the territory. Bodies were reduced to mere numbers, meant to ‘make more inhabitants’ as well as prevent French settlers from helping themselves to ‘sauvages’ (Indigenous women) or indulging in the abomination of the “Italian vice.” Dr. Row will discuss the racialized and entangled dynamics related to sexuality, disability, productivity, and reproduction evident in these documents.
Center for Bioethics & Health Law Health Humanities Lecture Series
Catalog of Opportunities Event
Location and Address
Online