Robert McRuer (born 1966) is an American theorist who has contributed to fields in transnational queer and

disability studies Disability studies is an academic discipline that examines the meaning, nature, and consequences of disability. Initially, the field focused on the division between "impairment" and "disability", where impairment was an impairment of an individual ...

. McRuer is known as being one of the founding scholars involved in forming the field of queer disability studies, particularly for a theoretical outlook known as crip theory. He is currently professor of English at

The George Washington University The George Washington University (GW or GWU) is a private federally-chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Originally named Columbian College, it was chartered in 1821 by the United States Congress and is the first ...

in Washington, DC. McRuer received his PhD from the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...

in 1995, advised by Michael Bérubé. His books include ''The Queer Renaissance: Contemporary American Literature and the Reinvention of Lesbian and Gay Identities'' and '' Crip Theory: Cultural Signs of Queerness and Disability''. McRuer has also edited ''Sex and Disability'', with Anna Mollow, and ''Desiring Disability: Queer Theory Meets Disability Studies'', with Abby L. Wilkerson. McRuer's work focuses on queer and crip

cultural studies Cultural studies is an academic field that explores the dynamics of contemporary culture (including the politics of popular culture) and its social and historical foundations. Cultural studies researchers investigate how cultural practices rel ...

and

critical theory Critical theory is a social, historical, and political school of thought and philosophical perspective which centers on analyzing and challenging systemic power relations in society, arguing that knowledge, truth, and social structures are ...

. In 2018, NYU Press published McRuer's ''Crip Times: Disability, Globalization, and Resistance'', a work considering locations of disability within contemporary political economies and the roles that disabled movements and representations play in countering hegemonic forms of globalization. His first book centered on contemporary LGBT writers, particularly LGBT writers of color, and his 2018 book attends to cultural sites where critical queerness and disability contest

heteronormativity Heteronormativity is the definition of heterosexuality as the normative human sexuality. It assumes the gender binary (i.e., that there are only two distinct, opposite genders) and that sexual and marital relations are most fitting between peo ...

and compulsory able-bodiedness.

List of publications

This is a partial list of publications by Robert McRuer: * "A Visitation of Difference: Randall Kenan and Black Queer Theory". (1993) ''Journal of Homosexuality'', 26.2-3: 221–232. * "Boys' Own Stories and New Spellings of My Name: Coming Out and Other Myths of Queer Positionality". (1994) ''Genders'', 260-260. * ''The Queer Renaissance: Contemporary American Literature and the Reinvention of Lesbian and Gay Identities''. (1997) New York University Press. (). * "Critical Investments: AIDS, Christopher Reeve, and Queer/Disability Studies". (2002) ''Journal of Medical Humanities'', 23.3-4: 221–237. * ''Desiring Disability: Queer Theory Meets Disability Studies''. (2003, co-edited with Ellen Samuels) Special issue of ''GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies'', 9.1/2. * "As Good as it Gets: Queer Theory and Critical Disability". (2003) ''GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies'' 9.1-2: 79–105
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* "Composing Bodies; or, De-Composition: Queer Theory, Disability Studies, and Alternative Corporealities". (2004) ''JAC'', 24.1: 47–78.
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* "Crip Eye for the Normate Guy: Queer Theory and the Disciplining of Disability Studies". (2005) ''PMLA'', 120.2: 586–592. * "Compulsory Able-Bodiedness and Queer/Disabled Existence". (2006) In Lennard J. Davis, ed. ''The Disability Studies Reader''. 2nd ed. Routledge. 88–99
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* ''Crip Theory: Cultural Signs of Queerness and Disability''. (2006) Foreword by Michael Bérubé. New York University Press. (). * "We Were Never Identified: Feminism, Queer Theory, and a Disabled World". (2006) ''Radical History Review'', 94: 148–154. * "Taking It to the Bank: Independence and Inclusion on the World Market". (2007) ''Journal of Literary & Cultural Disability Studies'', 1.2: 5–14
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* "Disability Nationalism in Crip Times". (2010) ''Journal of Literary & Cultural Disability Studies'', 4.2: 163–178. * "Disabling Sex: Notes for a Crip Theory of Sexuality". (2011) ''GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies'' 17.1: 107–117. * ''Sex and Disability''. (2012, co-edited with Anna Mollow) Duke University Press. (). * ''Crip Times: Disability, Globalization, and Resistance''. (2018) New York University Press.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mcruer, Robert 1966 births American male non-fiction writers American non-fiction writers Disability studies academics George Washington University faculty LGBTQ studies academics Living people University of Illinois alumni 21st-century American academics

List of publications

See also

References