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All The Worlds A Stage: Identity and Performance of Disability in Nineteenth-Century Britain / FELICITY MCGEOWN

Swansea University Author: FELICITY MCGEOWN

  • E-Thesis – open access under embargo until: 27th February 2027

DOI (Published version): 10.23889/SUthesis.69226

Abstract

This thesis explores invalidism in nineteenth-century Britain as a performative identity, shaped by personal agency, social expectations, and spatial contexts such as the sick room, health resorts, and encounters with welfare systems like the Poor Law. Drawing on an interdisciplinary approach that b...

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Published: Swansea, Wales, UK 2025
Institution: Swansea University
Degree level: Doctoral
Degree name: Ph.D
Supervisor: Turner, David ; Bohata, Kirsti
URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa69226
first_indexed 2025-04-04T11:24:54Z
last_indexed 2025-04-05T04:44:36Z
id cronfa69226
recordtype RisThesis
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Drawing on an interdisciplinary approach that bridges history and anthropology, it examines how individuals strategically navigated medical authority, societal norms, and lived experiences through performances of invalidism. While existing scholarship has primarily framed invalidism in terms of social regulation, medical discourse, or cultural representation, this study argues that invalidism was also a dynamic and fluid process of self-fashioning, through which individuals exercised agency in constructing their identities. Using sources such as letters, medical texts, domestic advice literature, and Poor Law correspondence, this research considers how invalids actively shaped their public and private identities. It explores how impressions, whether in the home, in institutional settings, or in written appeals for relief, were carefully curated to establish legitimacy and elicit particular responses from family, medical professionals, and state authorities. The decoration of sick rooms reflected shifting ideas of care, convalescence, and control, while travel to health resorts offered opportunities to challenge medical authority and redefine illness on one's own terms. At the same time, interactions with the Poor Law required invalids to adopt specific rhetorical and behavioural performances to secure aid, reinforcing the idea that all aspects of invalidism were shaped by audience and expectation. By examining the role of performance and visibility in shaping disabled identities, this study reframes invalidism as an active negotiation rather than a fixed medical or social category. Whether within the home, at a resort, or before Poor Law officials, invalids were not simply passive patients but strategic actors on a carefully constructed stage, adapting their performances based on social context and necessity. 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spelling 2025-04-04T15:21:42.5820630 v2 69226 2025-04-04 All The Worlds A Stage: Identity and Performance of Disability in Nineteenth-Century Britain 2a352f3da68e76e4a7adc5004dcaa83a FELICITY MCGEOWN FELICITY MCGEOWN true false 2025-04-04 This thesis explores invalidism in nineteenth-century Britain as a performative identity, shaped by personal agency, social expectations, and spatial contexts such as the sick room, health resorts, and encounters with welfare systems like the Poor Law. Drawing on an interdisciplinary approach that bridges history and anthropology, it examines how individuals strategically navigated medical authority, societal norms, and lived experiences through performances of invalidism. While existing scholarship has primarily framed invalidism in terms of social regulation, medical discourse, or cultural representation, this study argues that invalidism was also a dynamic and fluid process of self-fashioning, through which individuals exercised agency in constructing their identities. Using sources such as letters, medical texts, domestic advice literature, and Poor Law correspondence, this research considers how invalids actively shaped their public and private identities. It explores how impressions, whether in the home, in institutional settings, or in written appeals for relief, were carefully curated to establish legitimacy and elicit particular responses from family, medical professionals, and state authorities. The decoration of sick rooms reflected shifting ideas of care, convalescence, and control, while travel to health resorts offered opportunities to challenge medical authority and redefine illness on one's own terms. At the same time, interactions with the Poor Law required invalids to adopt specific rhetorical and behavioural performances to secure aid, reinforcing the idea that all aspects of invalidism were shaped by audience and expectation. By examining the role of performance and visibility in shaping disabled identities, this study reframes invalidism as an active negotiation rather than a fixed medical or social category. Whether within the home, at a resort, or before Poor Law officials, invalids were not simply passive patients but strategic actors on a carefully constructed stage, adapting their performances based on social context and necessity. Ultimately, this thesis contributes to the growing field of disability history by tracing the historical roots of disability identity and highlighting the complex ways in which individuals engaged with authority, space, and social perception in the nineteenth-century. E-Thesis Swansea, Wales, UK Disability, Agency, Performance, Performativity, Poor Law, Workhouses, Freak Show, Sick Room, Invalid, Invaldism, Travel 27 2 2025 2025-02-27 10.23889/SUthesis.69226 ORCiD identifier: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5302-6699 COLLEGE NANME COLLEGE CODE Swansea University Turner, David ; Bohata, Kirsti Doctoral Ph.D SURES SURES 2025-04-04T15:21:42.5820630 2025-04-04T12:18:06.3941036 Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences School of Culture and Communication - History FELICITY MCGEOWN 1 Under embargo Under embargo 2025-04-04T12:59:44.6879863 Output 8932381 application/pdf E-Thesis – open access true 2027-02-27T00:00:00.0000000 Copyright: The Author, Felicity McGeown, 2025. Licensed under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-Only (CC-BY) license. Third party content is excluded for use under the license terms. true eng https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en
title All The Worlds A Stage: Identity and Performance of Disability in Nineteenth-Century Britain
spellingShingle All The Worlds A Stage: Identity and Performance of Disability in Nineteenth-Century Britain
FELICITY MCGEOWN
title_short All The Worlds A Stage: Identity and Performance of Disability in Nineteenth-Century Britain
title_full All The Worlds A Stage: Identity and Performance of Disability in Nineteenth-Century Britain
title_fullStr All The Worlds A Stage: Identity and Performance of Disability in Nineteenth-Century Britain
title_full_unstemmed All The Worlds A Stage: Identity and Performance of Disability in Nineteenth-Century Britain
title_sort All The Worlds A Stage: Identity and Performance of Disability in Nineteenth-Century Britain
author_id_str_mv 2a352f3da68e76e4a7adc5004dcaa83a
author_id_fullname_str_mv 2a352f3da68e76e4a7adc5004dcaa83a_***_FELICITY MCGEOWN
author FELICITY MCGEOWN
author2 FELICITY MCGEOWN
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publishDate 2025
institution Swansea University
doi_str_mv 10.23889/SUthesis.69226
college_str Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
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hierarchy_top_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
department_str School of Culture and Communication - History{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences{{{_:::_}}}School of Culture and Communication - History
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description This thesis explores invalidism in nineteenth-century Britain as a performative identity, shaped by personal agency, social expectations, and spatial contexts such as the sick room, health resorts, and encounters with welfare systems like the Poor Law. Drawing on an interdisciplinary approach that bridges history and anthropology, it examines how individuals strategically navigated medical authority, societal norms, and lived experiences through performances of invalidism. While existing scholarship has primarily framed invalidism in terms of social regulation, medical discourse, or cultural representation, this study argues that invalidism was also a dynamic and fluid process of self-fashioning, through which individuals exercised agency in constructing their identities. Using sources such as letters, medical texts, domestic advice literature, and Poor Law correspondence, this research considers how invalids actively shaped their public and private identities. It explores how impressions, whether in the home, in institutional settings, or in written appeals for relief, were carefully curated to establish legitimacy and elicit particular responses from family, medical professionals, and state authorities. The decoration of sick rooms reflected shifting ideas of care, convalescence, and control, while travel to health resorts offered opportunities to challenge medical authority and redefine illness on one's own terms. At the same time, interactions with the Poor Law required invalids to adopt specific rhetorical and behavioural performances to secure aid, reinforcing the idea that all aspects of invalidism were shaped by audience and expectation. By examining the role of performance and visibility in shaping disabled identities, this study reframes invalidism as an active negotiation rather than a fixed medical or social category. Whether within the home, at a resort, or before Poor Law officials, invalids were not simply passive patients but strategic actors on a carefully constructed stage, adapting their performances based on social context and necessity. Ultimately, this thesis contributes to the growing field of disability history by tracing the historical roots of disability identity and highlighting the complex ways in which individuals engaged with authority, space, and social perception in the nineteenth-century.
published_date 2025-02-27T05:26:22Z
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score 11.089572

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