Constructing Modern Autism(s) in France
Condemned by international governing bodies like the United Nations, France has been in the spotlight for over a decade for its psychoanalytically-oriented approach to autism — one which understood the condition as a rare, and possibly temporary form of childhood mental illness potentially caused by unhealthy mother-child relations. Successive French governments have issued a series of national plans aimed at modernizing the country’s approach to the condition. Through an ethnographic analysis of one specific project supported by the government’s most recent Autism Plan, l’Université Aspie-Friendly, my dissertation focuses on the emergence of new local categorizations of autism. The Lemelson SPA grant permitted me to spend three weeks in France in summer, 2019 laying the groundwork for my project.