Drafts by Enrico Valtellina
The authors are developing a broad spectrum of research into the history and prehistory of autism... more The authors are developing a broad spectrum of research into the history and prehistory of autism, retracing the genesis of the term to contextualize, more precisely, the phenomenon of the surprising cultural exposure this psychiatric category has received, raised in a few decades from the status of a rare condition to its current public overexposure. The diagnostic proliferation of autism has turned relational disability into a hype, around which different, and at times contrasting, theoretical approaches and etiologies have developed. Such approaches have been implemented in clinical and educational intervention, leading to a proliferation of cultural productions, particularly in documentaries and movies. The starting point of our research, throughout these years, has been " Foucault's genealogy " and the history of madness/psychiatry, and, more recently, the research into autism undertaken by Ian Hacking, who, in 2004, dedicated a course at the Collège de France to autism, as well as many other works during the following years. One activity we carried out in the process of elaborating a historical ontology of autism consisted of research into records concerning the institutionalization of relational disabilities in the archives of the psychiatric hospital of Venice, San Servolo, before the word " autism " was invented by Eugen Bleuler as a symptom of " ebephrenic schizophrenia " and, later, during the 40s, as a psychiatric disorder itself. History of autism in its clinical aspects What was autistic humankind prior to being named in psychiatry? Following which explicit and implicit assumptions are medical and educational interventions structured? Which expectations in the involved subjectivities (parents, professionals, autistics) do they meet? The considerations we wish to propose concerning autism are the result of research we have undertaken, individually and collectively, during recent years. Each of us has followed a particular line of research, but the theoretical background underlying them is the same, and is exactly what lies at the core of the theme of this conference, to relate a cultural object to the contingencies that have created the conditions for its occurrence at a given time and to trace its historical ontology. In recent years, autism has been hyped. What was, until a couple of decades ago, no more than a rare psychiatric diagnosis has emerged center stage, through a proliferation of people being catalogued within the autistic " spectrum " , and this fact has produced a cultural phenomenon that goes far beyond the limits of medical science. In our paper we will discuss our itineraries in the mapping, analysis and contextualization of autism, Asperger's Syndrome and relational disabilities. Autism is highlighted as an extremely complex " cultural object " and subject to a complicated evolution. Our goal is to consider the object " autism " in its complexity and to represent its redundancy and its dispersion according to Foucault's theories, rather than frame it within the confines of an organic and definitive meaning. As a diagnostic category, Autism appears in 1943 (Barbetta, Valtellina, 2015). The category has an interesting historical preparation in psychiatric discursive practices 1. The research we have coordinated recently in the Psychiatric Archives of San Servolo (Capararo, Russo, Valtellina, 2012), at Venice, has discovered how Autism was effectively diagnosed before it was introduced as a diagnostic category. 1 When we talk about " Discursive practices " we are following the Discourse Analysis Method.
Book Reviews by Enrico Valtellina
The new book on Dis/Ability Studies and Inclusion in Italy has just been published. A thorough de... more The new book on Dis/Ability Studies and Inclusion in Italy has just been published. A thorough description of current challenges for developing inclusive education in Italy beyond a special needs education paradigm
Papers by Enrico Valtellina
Dialogue studies, Sep 14, 2023
Elephant and castle, Dec 30, 2023
Autismo è una diagnosi in aumento esponenziale, e oltre lo sguardo medico, si manifesta nel disco... more Autismo è una diagnosi in aumento esponenziale, e oltre lo sguardo medico, si manifesta nel discorso pubblico; è un evento culturale di cui sono testimonianza la sterminata quantità di libri, fi lm, serie televisive a tema. Evidentemente, nel tempo della centralità della comunicazione, le forme della sua non conformità vengono ad assumere una centralità simbolica. Di questo si occupa quell'ambito settoriale dei Disability Studies che si sta a ermando come Critical Autism Studies. In questo articolo vengono analizzate, da tale prospettiva teorica, le risonanze tra critica letteraria e autismo. In particolare, verrà analizzato un testo che asseconda le intenzioni emancipative dei CAS, Autistic Disturbances di Julia Miele Rodas, libro in cui le peculiarità espressive che si danno come critiche nel discorso clinico, come sintomi, vengono ritrovate come espedienti stilistici in un corpus letterario eterogeneo, e pertanto redente. Autism is an exponentially increasing diagnosis, and beyond the medical gaze, it manifests itself in the public discourse; it is a cultural event to which the endless amount of books, movies, TV series on the subject are testimony. Clearly, in the time of the centrality of communication, the forms of its nonconformity come to assume symbolic centrality. This is addressed by that sectoral fi eld of Disability Studies that is emerging as Critical Autism Studies. In this article, the resonances between literary criticism and autism are analyzed from that theoretical perspective. In particular, a text will be analyzed that panders to the emancipatory intentions of CAS, Autistic Disturbances by Julia Miele Rodas, a book in which the expressive peculiarities that are given as critical in clinical discourse, as symptoms, are found as stylistic devices in a heterogeneous literary corpus, and therefore redeemed.
ELEPHANT&CASTLE 31 | III/2023 | ISSN 1826-6118, 2023
Abstract
Autismo è una diagnosi in aumento esponenziale, e oltre lo
sguardo medico, si manifesta ... more Abstract
Autismo è una diagnosi in aumento esponenziale, e oltre lo
sguardo medico, si manifesta nel discorso pubblico; è un
evento culturale di cui sono testimonianza la sterminata
quantità di libri, fi lm, serie televisive a tema. Evidentemente,
nel tempo della centralità della comunicazione, le forme della
sua non conformità vengono ad assumere una centralità
simbolica. Di questo si occupa quell’ambito settoriale dei Disability
Studies che si sta a ermando come Critical Autism
Studies. In questo articolo vengono analizzate, da tale prospettiva
teorica, le risonanze tra critica letteraria e autismo.
In particolare, verrà analizzato un testo che asseconda le intenzioni
emancipative dei CAS, Autistic Disturbances di Julia
Miele Rodas, libro in cui le peculiarità espressive che si danno
come critiche nel discorso clinico, come sintomi, vengono ritrovate
come espedienti stilistici in un corpus letterario eterogeneo,
e pertanto redente.
Autism is an exponentially increasing diagnosis, and beyond
the medical gaze, it manifests itself in the public discourse;
it is a cultural event to which the endless amount of books,
movies, TV series on the subject are testimony. Clearly, in
the time of the centrality of communication, the forms of its
nonconformity come to assume symbolic centrality. This is
addressed by that sectoral fi eld of Disability Studies that is
emerging as Critical Autism Studies. In this article, the resonances
between literary criticism and autism are analyzed
from that theoretical perspective. In particular, a text will be
analyzed that panders to the emancipatory intentions of CAS,
Autistic Disturbances by Julia Miele Rodas, a book in which
the expressive peculiarities that are given as critical in clinical
discourse, as symptoms, are found as stylistic devices in a
heterogeneous literary corpus, and therefore redeemed.
Parole chiave
Autism studies
Miele Rodas
Quayson
Critica e clinica
Emancipatory research
Keywords
Autism studies
Miele Rodas
Quayson
Critical and clinical
Emancipatory research
Springer eBooks, 2018
Despite its removal from the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Dis... more Despite its removal from the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Asperger’s Syndrome remains the subject of an extraordinary cultural overexposition. The present text aims to question the AS diagnosis as diagnosis, turning back to the matrix of all the discourses that proliferated from it. The piece addresses diagnosis as classification first—the characterization of the syndrome according to the formulation of clinical semiotics, evolving over time—and then diagnosis as event: inscription recasting the perception of one’s existence. Related to this introjection of the diagnostic moment, in specific ways, AS is then analyzed from the point of view of individual interpellation, that proceeds from the inscription in the condition, picking up some Althusserian suggestions.
AM. Rivista della Società Italiana di Antropologia Medica, Dec 1, 2020
Il dialogo inceppato : note sull'istituzionalizzazione dei disabili relazionali nel frenocomio dell'isola di San Servolo a Venezia, 2013
A extraordinária atenção social e cultural que nas últimas décadas tem se dado ao diagnóstico do ... more A extraordinária atenção social e cultural que nas últimas décadas tem se dado ao diagnóstico do autismo/síndrome de Asperger convida a uma reflexão mais ampla para contextualizar o seu acontecimento como objeto cultural. É nesta direção que se move o presente trabalho, buscando identificar as coordenadas sociais, institucionais e culturais que levaram a tal exposição da deficiência relacional. Fala da história do espectro do autismo e sua pré-história ou a investigação sobre como as formas de não-conformidade com as expectativas da interação na presença do outro foram contextualizados, antes do modelo médico e em seus primeiros dias. Além disso, também têm procurado articular o discurso da contextualização cultural do espectro do autismo na area dos estudos sobre a deficiência chamada Critical Autism Studies por meio de um levantamento analítico dos autores e dos temas.La straordinaria attenzione sociale e culturale che nelle ultime decadi si è rivolta alla diagnosi di autismo/sindrome di Asperger chiama a una riflessione più ampia per contestualizzarne levenienza come oggetto culturale. Il presente lavoro muove in tale direzione, proponendosi di individuare le coordinate sociali, istituzionali e culturali che hanno portato a una simile esposizione delle disabilità relazionali. Storia quindi dello spettro autistico e sua preistoria, ovvero ricerca su come le forme della non conformità alle attese dellaltro nellinterazione in presenza siano state tematizzate, anteriormente al modello medico e ai suoi albori. A fianco della ricerca storica si è inoltre cercato di sostanziare il discorso di contestualizzazione culturale dello spettro autistico in quellambito settoriale dei Disability Studies che sono i Critical Autism Studies attraverso una ricognizione degli autori e dei temi
Studi culturali, 2006
... Trasgredendo «la gerarchia sociale delle pratiche e degli oggetti», Bourdieu afferma di propo... more ... Trasgredendo «la gerarchia sociale delle pratiche e degli oggetti», Bourdieu afferma di proporsi «la ... atti rituali dei contadini cabili o delle operazioni di valutazione dei professori o dei critici mi avevano in-segnato a proposito della logica specifica del senso pratico, di cui il ...
Studi culturali, 2006
... partecipazione sociale attiva. Sempre più tale crescente marginalizzazione porta a considerar... more ... partecipazione sociale attiva. Sempre più tale crescente marginalizzazione porta a considerare le per-sone disabili come un problema sociale ed educativo, quindi all'istituzione di laboratori protetti, asili e scuole speciali. La ricognizione ...
Autism in Translation, 2018
Despite its removal from the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Dis... more Despite its removal from the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Asperger’s Syndrome remains the subject of an extraordinary cultural overexposition. The present text aims to question the AS diagnosis as diagnosis, turning back to the matrix of all the discourses that proliferated from it. The piece addresses diagnosis as classification first—the characterization of the syndrome according to the formulation of clinical semiotics, evolving over time—and then diagnosis as event: inscription recasting the perception of one’s existence. Related to this introjection of the diagnostic moment, in specific ways, AS is then analyzed from the point of view of individual interpellation, that proceeds from the inscription in the condition, picking up some Althusserian suggestions.
In a recent book, by Gil Eyal and colleagues, The Autism Matrix, the deinstitutionalization of me... more In a recent book, by Gil Eyal and colleagues, The Autism Matrix, the deinstitutionalization of mental retardation in the sixties is seen as the auroral moment of its emergence. While we were working on autism, we posed ourselves the same questions. Where does the discourse about “autism” come from? What was autism before being “autism”, that is, before its naming by Kanner and Asperger? We also had the perception that the absence of “autism” in the public discourse during the previous decades, had something to do with the institutionalization as a psychiatric problem of what now stays under the name of autism. Therefore, we started a research on the clinical files of the archive of the ex-asylum of Venice, on the island of St. Servolo, to verify that assumption. This research was published in 2013 with the title A se e agli altri: Storia della manicomializzazione dell’autismo e delle altre disabilita relazionali nelle cartelle cliniche di S. Servolo, To him/her/itself and to others:...
Constructing ‘autistic personhoods’: How do ideas about normative childhood and adulthood shape... more Constructing ‘autistic personhoods’: How do ideas about normative childhood and adulthood shape concerns and experiences of autistic children and adults? Autism as neurodiversity: how does public and research discourses of neurology affect our theoretical and conceptual understandings of autism? How can critical autism studies challenge the biomedical construction of autism? Interventions and policy: how do social and policy interventions in the name of autism shape autism services and programs. How are these experienced by recipients of these services? Research methodologies and ethics: critical consideration of research methodologies drawn on when researching autism. How are participatory, emancipatory and research ethics engaged with in autism research? Cultural and artistic representations of autism: an exploration of how autism is depicted in culture through art, film, expression, literature and music.
The authors are developing a broad spectrum research on autism’s history and its prehistory. Retr... more The authors are developing a broad spectrum research on autism’s history and its prehistory. Retracing its genesis allows us to contextualize, in a proper way, the interesting phenomenum of the amazing cultural exposure of this psychiatric category, raised in a few decades from the status of a rare condition to its current public overexposure. The diagnostic proliferation of autism has turned relational disability into a hype, around which etiologies have been developed, along with methodologies of intervention, different and at times opposite theoretical approaches, but also, in a broader sense, a proliferation in cultural productions. The starting point of the present research are Foucault’s genealogy and the history of psychiatric knowledge/power, and place itself in the trail of the researches on autism developed by Ian Hacking, who dedicated in 2004 a course at the College de France to autism, and many other works in the following years. One activity carried out in the elaborat...
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Drafts by Enrico Valtellina
Book Reviews by Enrico Valtellina
Papers by Enrico Valtellina
Autismo è una diagnosi in aumento esponenziale, e oltre lo
sguardo medico, si manifesta nel discorso pubblico; è un
evento culturale di cui sono testimonianza la sterminata
quantità di libri, fi lm, serie televisive a tema. Evidentemente,
nel tempo della centralità della comunicazione, le forme della
sua non conformità vengono ad assumere una centralità
simbolica. Di questo si occupa quell’ambito settoriale dei Disability
Studies che si sta a ermando come Critical Autism
Studies. In questo articolo vengono analizzate, da tale prospettiva
teorica, le risonanze tra critica letteraria e autismo.
In particolare, verrà analizzato un testo che asseconda le intenzioni
emancipative dei CAS, Autistic Disturbances di Julia
Miele Rodas, libro in cui le peculiarità espressive che si danno
come critiche nel discorso clinico, come sintomi, vengono ritrovate
come espedienti stilistici in un corpus letterario eterogeneo,
e pertanto redente.
Autism is an exponentially increasing diagnosis, and beyond
the medical gaze, it manifests itself in the public discourse;
it is a cultural event to which the endless amount of books,
movies, TV series on the subject are testimony. Clearly, in
the time of the centrality of communication, the forms of its
nonconformity come to assume symbolic centrality. This is
addressed by that sectoral fi eld of Disability Studies that is
emerging as Critical Autism Studies. In this article, the resonances
between literary criticism and autism are analyzed
from that theoretical perspective. In particular, a text will be
analyzed that panders to the emancipatory intentions of CAS,
Autistic Disturbances by Julia Miele Rodas, a book in which
the expressive peculiarities that are given as critical in clinical
discourse, as symptoms, are found as stylistic devices in a
heterogeneous literary corpus, and therefore redeemed.
Parole chiave
Autism studies
Miele Rodas
Quayson
Critica e clinica
Emancipatory research
Keywords
Autism studies
Miele Rodas
Quayson
Critical and clinical
Emancipatory research
Autismo è una diagnosi in aumento esponenziale, e oltre lo
sguardo medico, si manifesta nel discorso pubblico; è un
evento culturale di cui sono testimonianza la sterminata
quantità di libri, fi lm, serie televisive a tema. Evidentemente,
nel tempo della centralità della comunicazione, le forme della
sua non conformità vengono ad assumere una centralità
simbolica. Di questo si occupa quell’ambito settoriale dei Disability
Studies che si sta a ermando come Critical Autism
Studies. In questo articolo vengono analizzate, da tale prospettiva
teorica, le risonanze tra critica letteraria e autismo.
In particolare, verrà analizzato un testo che asseconda le intenzioni
emancipative dei CAS, Autistic Disturbances di Julia
Miele Rodas, libro in cui le peculiarità espressive che si danno
come critiche nel discorso clinico, come sintomi, vengono ritrovate
come espedienti stilistici in un corpus letterario eterogeneo,
e pertanto redente.
Autism is an exponentially increasing diagnosis, and beyond
the medical gaze, it manifests itself in the public discourse;
it is a cultural event to which the endless amount of books,
movies, TV series on the subject are testimony. Clearly, in
the time of the centrality of communication, the forms of its
nonconformity come to assume symbolic centrality. This is
addressed by that sectoral fi eld of Disability Studies that is
emerging as Critical Autism Studies. In this article, the resonances
between literary criticism and autism are analyzed
from that theoretical perspective. In particular, a text will be
analyzed that panders to the emancipatory intentions of CAS,
Autistic Disturbances by Julia Miele Rodas, a book in which
the expressive peculiarities that are given as critical in clinical
discourse, as symptoms, are found as stylistic devices in a
heterogeneous literary corpus, and therefore redeemed.
Parole chiave
Autism studies
Miele Rodas
Quayson
Critica e clinica
Emancipatory research
Keywords
Autism studies
Miele Rodas
Quayson
Critical and clinical
Emancipatory research