Cochlear implants (CIs) are considered the “gold standard” in intervening in deafness, and countries around the world have started providing them to children. MICHELE FRIEDNER is a medical anthropologist who researches deaf and disabled peoples’ social, moral, religious, and economic practices. In this talk, she’ll discuss the sometimes conflicting understandings of what a CI outcome is and the importance of exploring how hearing—and other senses—are politically, economically, and socially produced and maintained over one’s life. A professor and chair of the Department of Comparative Human Development at the University of Chicago, Friedner is the author of two books, including Sensory Futures: Cochlear Implants and Sensory Infrastructures in India (2022).
Reception to follow in the Lewis Center Atrium
