Hollin, G. orcid.org/0000-0003-4348-8272 (2017) Failing, hacking, passing : autism, entanglement, and the ethics of transformation. BioSocieties, 12 (4). pp. 611-633. ISSN 1745-8552
Abstract
One of the most notable recent changes in autism science is the belief that autism is a heterogeneous condition with no singular essence. I argue that this notion of ‘autistic heterogeneity’ can be conceived as an ‘agential cut’ and traced to uncertainty work conducted by cognitive psychologists during the early 1990s. Researchers at this time overcame uncertainty in scientific theory by locating it within autism itself: epistemological uncertainty was interwoven with ontological indeterminacy and autism became heterogeneous and chance like, a condition determined by indeterminacy. This paper considers not only the conceptual significance of this move but also the impact upon forms of subjectivity. This analysis is undertaken by integrating the agential realism of Karen Barad with the historical ontology of Michel Foucault. I argue that these two approaches are, firstly, concerned with ontologies of emergence and, secondly, foreground the inherently ethical nature of change. As such these theories can be used to articulate an ‘ethics of transformation’. I argue that the agential cut which brought about autistic heterogeneity is potentially problematic within an ethics of transformation, limiting the possibility of future change in subjectivity by imagining difference and resistance as properties of autism rather than the individual.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2017 Macmillan Publishers Ltd. This is an author-produced version of a paper subsequently published in BioSocieties. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | Karen Barad; Michel Foucault; autism; uncertainty; ethics of transformation; cognitive psychology |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) > Department of Sociological Studies (Sheffield) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number The Wellcome Trust N/A Foundation for the Sociology of Health and Illness N/A |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 04 Mar 2022 09:03 |
Last Modified: | 04 Mar 2022 09:03 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Palgrave Macmillan (part of Springer Nature) |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1057/s41292-017-0054-3 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:184392 |