War on Autism
On the Cultural Logic of Normative Violence
Will be published approx. on 28. April 2016
Book
Hardback
274 pages
978-0-472-07312-2 (ISBN)
Description
War on Autism examines autism as a historically specific and powerladen cultural phenomenon that has much to teach about the social organization of a neoliberal western modernity. Bringing together a variety of interpretive theoretical perspectives including critical disability studies, queer and critical race theory, and cultural studies, the book analyzes the social significance and productive effects of contemporary discourses of autism as these are produced and circulated in the field of autism advocacy. Anne McGuire discusses how in the field of autism advocacy, autism often appears as an abbreviation, its multiple meanings distilled to various "red flag" warnings in awareness campaigns, bulleted biomedical "facts" in information pamphlets, or worrisome statistics in policy reports. She analyzes the relationships between these fragmentary enactments of autism and traces their continuities to reveal an underlying, powerful, and ubiquitous logic of violence that casts autism as a pathological threat that advocacy must work to eliminate. Such logic, McGuire contends, functions to delimit the role of the "good" autism advocate to one who is positioned "against" autism.
Reviews / Votes
"McGuire's book is a valuable contribution to critical disability studies and bioethics for several reasons. The key contribution is McGuire's excellent critique of autism advocacy, which successfully demonstrates that any advocacy failing to advocate for autistic people is complicit in their marginalisation and in the normalisation of the violence committed against them."--Somatechnic -- Tereza Hendl * Somatechnic * ?This is one of the more interesting titles written about autism in recent years.?
--Choice Reviews -- JD Neal * Choice Reviews * "Noting that mainstream 'advocacy' so often seems to elide or ignore the very people it claims to be helping, McGuire also points out the extensive work autistic activists have done to push back against this damage and situates War on Autism as a text that might further unpack the violence of certain rhetorical approaches to autism."
--Disability Studies Quarterly * Disability Studies Quarterly * "Anne McGuire's War on Autism is an astute, searing analysis of autism, and autism advocacy. The book is a deeply unsettling and convincing portrayal of the complicity of contemporary western culture, and the role that culture plays in the violence done to autistic people."
--Disability & Society * Disability & Society * Winner: 2015 Tobin Siebers Prize for Disability Studies in the Humanities * Tobin Siebers Prize *
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Ann Arbor
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
13 illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
ISBN-13
978-0-472-07312-2 (9780472073122)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Anne McGuire is Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, in the Equity Studies Program at New College, University of Toronto.