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The post-institutional era : visions of history in research on intellectual disability

Altermark, Niklas LU (2017) In Disability and Society 32(9). p.1315-1332
Abstract

In this article, I address how the history of intellectual disability politics is made sense of in social scientific research and popular discourse. In particular, I discuss the construction of a narrative break between a past of institutionalisation and the present policies of citizenship. By drawing on how postcolonial theorists criticise common ideas about decolonisation, I argue that this narrative impedes our appreciation of how power has transformed, rather than disappeared, after deinstitutionalisation. Instead, I propose ‘post-institutionalisation’ as a name for the present era of intellectual disability politics, suggesting that we need to attend to continuities and discontinuities of how the group is governed; how paternalism... (More)

In this article, I address how the history of intellectual disability politics is made sense of in social scientific research and popular discourse. In particular, I discuss the construction of a narrative break between a past of institutionalisation and the present policies of citizenship. By drawing on how postcolonial theorists criticise common ideas about decolonisation, I argue that this narrative impedes our appreciation of how power has transformed, rather than disappeared, after deinstitutionalisation. Instead, I propose ‘post-institutionalisation’ as a name for the present era of intellectual disability politics, suggesting that we need to attend to continuities and discontinuities of how the group is governed; how paternalism lives on after deinstitutionalisation and how the goals of citizenship inclusion give rise to new technologies of government. I conclude the article by discussing the necessity and the dangers of involving people with intellectual disabilities in the analysis of post-institutional government.

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Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
deinstitutionalisation, disability studies, Intellectual disability, postcolonial theory, Spivak
in
Disability and Society
volume
32
issue
9
pages
1315 - 1332
publisher
Routledge
external identifiers
  • wos:000413900500003
  • scopus:85019250182
ISSN
0968-7599
DOI
10.1080/09687599.2017.1322497
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
8356de72-0e0e-4cfe-8498-4f942b99af95
date added to LUP
2017-05-30 08:15:55
date last changed
2024-04-14 12:22:35
@article{8356de72-0e0e-4cfe-8498-4f942b99af95,
  abstract     = {{<p>In this article, I address how the history of intellectual disability politics is made sense of in social scientific research and popular discourse. In particular, I discuss the construction of a narrative break between a past of institutionalisation and the present policies of citizenship. By drawing on how postcolonial theorists criticise common ideas about decolonisation, I argue that this narrative impedes our appreciation of how power has transformed, rather than disappeared, after deinstitutionalisation. Instead, I propose ‘post-institutionalisation’ as a name for the present era of intellectual disability politics, suggesting that we need to attend to continuities and discontinuities of how the group is governed; how paternalism lives on after deinstitutionalisation and how the goals of citizenship inclusion give rise to new technologies of government. I conclude the article by discussing the necessity and the dangers of involving people with intellectual disabilities in the analysis of post-institutional government.</p>}},
  author       = {{Altermark, Niklas}},
  issn         = {{0968-7599}},
  keywords     = {{deinstitutionalisation; disability studies; Intellectual disability; postcolonial theory; Spivak}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{10}},
  number       = {{9}},
  pages        = {{1315--1332}},
  publisher    = {{Routledge}},
  series       = {{Disability and Society}},
  title        = {{The post-institutional era : visions of history in research on intellectual disability}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2017.1322497}},
  doi          = {{10.1080/09687599.2017.1322497}},
  volume       = {{32}},
  year         = {{2017}},
}