Devva Kasnitz 1950-2025
It is with great sadness that I share the passing of Devva on January 26. She had been ill throughout the fall, and last week, liver cancer was discovered. She entered hospice care almost immediately. Devva leaves behind an extended family and countless friends and colleagues.
Devva was truly one of a kind. I don’t think she ever knew the word “no.” The disability community would not be what it is today without her incredible leadership in so many areas. Please use this space to remember the times spent with Devva. She was so important to the lives of so many. Let your memories be a blessing.
We will have a community shiva over Zoom and other ways to honor Devva’s memory…
A shiva was held at Temple Beth El in Eureka, California on February 2nd at 4pm Pacific. A hybrid Micha service will be held over Zoom at https://uchicago.zoom.us/my/michelefriedner?pwd=Q1l6SkxjNjF5UklRdmhoL2ZBZHA
To read the very first draft of Deva’s biography, go to https://iloveyou-leadon.com/devvas-bio/ (link). Your additions, corrections, photos, videos are very welcome.send them to susan@iloveyou-leadon.com.
Dear Devva may your journey be pain free and gentle. I am one of the many you gathered under your wings. I will always be so grateful. It is hard to say goodbye but I want you to know we will be okay and you can move on if you are ready. It has been a joy to write, present, and be together. Goodbye.
thank you dear Devva. You are a force of nature and a welcoming, inclusive change maker within the disability community who eloquently bridged across disciplines, forcibly challenging each to evolve and grow. The world is a little less bright without you in it.
Devva, i love you. You have been a whirlwind, an unbelievable force for good change in this world, and a huge influential mentor and a dear friend to me personally. i will always remember our travels and joys and work collaborations, but i will mostly picture you dancing…. 💃🏼 Dance on!!!! Your presence will live on in the disability community forever ❤️🙏
Devva, I’m so devastated. Usually when I am devva-stated, it is a good thing– but not right now. Thank you for everything you’ve done for me. You’ve been an incredible mentor from my early graduate education, when you and Russ warmly welcomed me to your disability anthropology class and showed me that Berkeley could be a warm place. You’ve always been a source of support and inspiration when dealing with AAA and ableist bullshit, I always felt like you were in my corner and that you supported me. And your singing of “Mellow Yellow” and your spinning and yarn and your maryjanes and your amazing hair and outfits…. you were so uniquely yourself in such an outsized and luminous way. And of course your work– on impairment-disability; on speech disability, sociality and effort; on aging and disability– thank you for everything. May your passage be as smooth as possible. And know that you’ve made things so much better for those who come after you and that you’ve been a true role model. I love you.
Dear Devva—you give me and my students so much as a colleague and friend. You and all those who love and treasure you are in my thoughts, and I send you all the warmth and comfort in the world.
Hi Devva,
Although we haven’t had the chance to meet in person, I’m really glad to have the opportunity to connect with you and know you virtually. As a disabled person myself, I couldn’t pass up the chance to thank you for all the amazing work you’ve done throughout your career for the disability persons. Your contributions have made such a difference, and I am confident that it will take time to fill the gap when you’re no longer leading the charge.
Thank you for everything you’ve done. I am sending you my best wishes.
Devva,
May you be surrounded by love at this time. I will always remember the time we shared a hotel room for a SfAA meeting. I salute your wit, your kindness, and of course your sharp intervention in anthropology. We will hold onto the beautiful human and intellectual legacy you have gifted us.
Dear Devva,
I’ll never forget meeting you in Tucson — people are using the word, “whirlwind,” and it really fits. You were joyful, cantankerous, kind and bursting with provocative thought. You have created so many disability worlds. I assumed we’d cross paths many more times in this life. I am glad your family and close friends are with you for this transition. Thanks for everything you’ve given us all.
Danilyn
Dear Devva, sending you warmth, peace, and gentleness as you make the transition. You were one of the first people to take me seriously and believe in the work I am doing in a public setting. You have gifted our community much, we will remember you and continue to read your work and carry on your legacy.
Devva, I will miss you so much. I wouldn’t be who I am today without you, professionally or personally. And yet I only knew a small piece of all you were. Your impact is outsized but just right for you. May peace be upon you.
Devva,
All my love to your family amid your transition. Although I only had one course with you last fall, your sincerity cut the deepest of any person— any anthropologist I have had the pleasure of knowing. I will carry that memory of you wherever I go. I am thankful to have met you virtually and to have been inspired by your sharp fearlessness. There are no words for the loss we all feel. Until we meet again.
dear, fierce Devva and all those who hold her closely: so many memories of SDS conferences are stitched with your bright presence. I think of colors swirling, joyful connections, and deep love of community across those moments. Gratitude for the many gifts you have brought to our world. And keeping everyone touched by you close in my thoughts-
sb
Dear Devva, you changed my life with your kindness, inclusivity, and unrelenting insistence that all people be welcomed and respected. I am forever grateful to have had you in my life and to have learned from you. You made the world a better place.
Dearest Devva, My heart is so heavy tonight with the news of your passing. We met in the late 1980s – you were the first disabled anthropologist (aside from myself) whom I had ever met. We would see each other frequently at AAA and SDS. You always encouraged me, included me, made me feel like I had something valuable to share with the world. You showed me such warmth, forgave my failures, made me laugh, performed for me what it means to put yourself out there in public space regardless of the reception. Thank you, Devva. I never imagined you would be gone. We had such an amazing three weeks in Guatemala together in 2010. You made that trip for me possible. Actually, you will never be gone. With so much gratitude, Sumi
This is a song that tell what Devva meant to this world. A miracle. El mundo te extraña ya, querida Devva
Dear Devva,
I am still in shock about the news of your illness and now your passing…Your impact on my own life journey is incalculable. You were my mentor, colleague, co-educator and dear friend. The memories I have about our time working and playing together will nourish me forever. Your generosity of spirit has always been a model for me. So has your commitment to being an ambassador for diversity, accessibility and inclusivity in all areas of life. Your intellectual contributions to both disability studies and disability anthropology were groundbreaking. To all of us interested in the question of disability, you were the sharer of relevant information and the master networker par excellence. I will miss you deeply. Thank you for your gift of being….
Russell
Dear Devva, I got the news of your passing from our dear colleague and friend Pam. It was a great privilege to work with you as a feisty and challenging scholar of such breadth and also great fun to work with you with your sparky humour and down to earth approach. Thank you
Devva, there are no words, just swirling colors, wonderful ideas, possibilities, demands on the world! A constant song about inclusion, a constant drum beat about access – an insistence that it can be done. Plus fun, dance, freedom, to accompany the inevitable pain. You will be missed by many of us – even those with whom you sparred. May your memory be a blessing for all of us. With love, Carol
Dearest Devva, I remember dancing with you at anthropology department parties in Ann Arbor. You were always in motion I understood only a fragment of what you were telling me, but I knew you were the smartest one in the room, and I learned from you. Years later, we rediscovered each other, dancing again, at anthropology meetings, and you became the moral compass for all the work we did in the AAA. Your love and joy and wicked sense of humor and righteous indignation at injustice all helped us to make a world. You changed the world Devva and we will all be forever grateful. Missing you with love, Rayna.
Devva was a professor in our Disability Studies program at CUNY for many years. I had the pleasure of learning from her at the graduate level years ago and since, I have greatly enjoyed my time together as her colleague. She often taught the embodiment and disability courses, where she linked her own cultural anthropology background to disability studies and always made sure to highlight the importance of listening to people with speech and language impairments, and the creative ways in which we can make sure all disabled people have access to communication.
Devva was a fiery advocate and extremely focused and passionate about the issues about which she cared deeply. Outside of teaching disability studies, it would be fair to say that Devva helped shape the entire field of DS as a scholar. She enjoyed mentoring students and younger scholars in the field and was never afraid to share her thoughts on controversial topics, even when her own opinion wasn’t popular. I know all of us who knew Devva Kasnitz will feel this loss.
Devva,
where do I even begin? You were the first to teach me disability pride and my first mentor in how to own it. I was going through some things and found a draft of a poem I wrote for you and eventually framed and gifted you. Reading it over a decade later, I have to say it still rings true:
Beauty of impairment
You showed me the beauty of impairment
And taught me not to be ashamed of mine.
You showed me I belonged,
In a place I never thought I would.
From you I learned when words fail,
Gestures speak.
You reach out for hands, yet touch hearts.
Our stories intersected. You helped to shape mine.
From you I learned:
The beauty of impairment
And not to be ashamed of mine.
I love you always and will miss you forever 💙
I will remember Devva for her warmth and wit, her brilliant writing on so many topics, and her big personality. She made me feel included in the Disability Research Interest Group, which I came to late in the day. I wish I had known her better and for longer.
Whenever a message popped up from her, whether to me or collectively to DRIG, I knew to expect something engaging, and generally something that sparked further conversation. Devva has touched the minds and hearts of so many of us in the world of anthropology. What sadness that she is gone. It is too soon. I will miss finding her in my inbox and seeing her at conferences.
May her memory be a blessing z’l זיכרונה לברכה
Devva was my Professor for this last Fall semester CUNY class “Disability & Embodiment”. She was so kind, strong, understanding and insightful.
She encouraged me and was so empathetic in some challenges I was facing.
I am sending heartfelt condolences to her family & friends.
Devva – my heart is broken and I truly am thankful to have known you.
You wrote recently in our class that “change is reality” but your leaving us is something that will take time to process.
You will be in my prayers.
Love,
Shannon
the world to me.
I am gutted that you are gone at a moment when you are so needed.
Thank you for teaching, organizing, and creating community.
I knew you were there, fierce, present, and ready to the make change we need.
May your memory strengthen and embolden us to do better.
Oh no! Sadly! The news of Professor Devva Krasnitz’s demise is disheartening. Just as I was going to make contact again, I was shaken by the news of the awful tragedy. Having you at CUNY SPS has been a privilege and an honor. Rest in peace, professor. Your values live on!
Best,
Harmony
Devva – You were with me when I needed you. My gratitude is endless. May your memory be a blessing.
To read the words of your former and current students, colleagues, friends, and more, I feel less alone in the sadness now knowing, among all of those who miss and respect and care deeply about you, about our shared missions in anthropology, in education, in disability studies, in life, and so much more.
Devva, you are not nor will you be forgotten; you will be cherished in all those memories, those lessons, those highest esteems and regards.
However, you will be missed so very much. You made so many ideas, passions, confidences, and curiosities soar, and you gave us so much to respect and admire you, your drive, and your intellect for.
Personally, I’ll never forget conversations after DRIG sessions and meetings, both online and in person, and how you brought me into my next stage of interdisciplinary studies and into advocacy within and beyond the association.
Missing Devva’s presence greatly, but cherishing memories that go back decades. All of my memories of Devva are through the Society for Disability Studies, so it’s touching to hear and read memories of others. Her critical, thoughtful assessment of buzz-terms such as assistive technology (both machine and human), and translational research, among others, was always insightful and often spot on. Most of all,Devva’s feisty independent spirit was evident in her presentations and writing, even in her Zoom presence and emails, more common after the in-person SDS meetings ended. Devva’s life is testimony to the reality that critical inquiry and advocacy are mutually reinforcing.