Autism is a complex phenomenon that is both individual and social.
Showing both robust similarities and intriguing differences across
cultural contexts, the autism spectrum raises innumerable questions
about self, subjectivity, and society in a globalized world. Yet it is
often misrepresented as a problem of broken bodies and disordered
brains. So, in 2015, a group of interdisciplinary scholars gathered in
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for an intellectual experiment: a workshop that
joined approaches from psychological anthropology to the South American
tradition of Collective Health in order to consider autism within
social, historical, and political settings. This book is the product of
the ongoing conversation emerging from this event. It contains a series
of comparative histories of autism policy in Italy, Brazil, and the
United States; focuses on issues of voice, narrative, and representation
in autism; and examines how the concept of autism shapes both individual
lives and broader social and economic systems.
Featuring contributions from:
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Michael Bakan
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Benilton Bezerra
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Pamela Block
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M. Ariel Cascio
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Jurandir Freire Costa
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Bárbara Costa Andrada
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Cassandra Evans
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Elizabeth Fein
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Clara Feldman
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Roy Richard Grinker
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Rossano Lima
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Francisco Ortega
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Dawn Prince-Hughes
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Clarice Rios
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Laura Sterponi
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Thomas S. Weisner
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Enrico Valtellina