Death Cafés are loosely-structured, salon-style conversations around death which aim to give space for these conversation in a secular, westernized culture wherein they are often quieted. This Death Café is explicitly political and animated by the question: what do cultural understandings of death teach us about how non-normative bodies (disabled and otherwise) are calibrated as both vital and uninhabitable? This Death Café bridges media activism with academia to think about how movements such as disability justice, the Movement for Black Lives, Walking with Our Sisters, AIDS Action Now, and anti-war movements engage death and how this activist engagement with death can shape our scholarship.

Moderated by:
Esther Ignagni, Associate Professor, School of Disability Studies
Kim Collins, Research Associate, School of Disability Studies
Eliza Chandler, Assistant Professor, School of Disability Studies