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Culture, Mind, and Society

Autism in
Translation
An Intercultural
Conversation on Autism
Spectrum Conditions

Edited by
Elizabeth Fein & Clarice Rios
 Culture, Mind, and Society

Series Editor
Peter G. Stromberg
Anthropology Department
Henry Kendall College of Arts and Sciences
University of Tulsa
Tulsa, OK, USA
The Society for Psychological Anthropology—a section of the American
Anthropology Association—and Palgrave Macmillan are dedicated to
publishing innovative research that illuminates the workings of the
human mind within the social, cultural, and political contexts that shape
thought, emotion, and experience. As anthropologists seek to bridge
gaps between ideation and emotion or agency and structure and as psy-
chologists, psychiatrists, and medical anthropologists search for ways to
engage with cultural meaning and difference, this interdisciplinary terrain
is more active than ever.

Editorial Board
Eileen Anderson-Fye, Department of Anthropology, Case Western
Reserve University
Jennifer Cole, Committee on Human Development, University of
Chicago
Linda Garro, Department of Anthropology, University of California,
Los Angeles
Daniel T. Linger, Department of Anthropology, University of California,
Santa Cruz
Rebecca Lester, Department of Anthropology, Washington University
in St. Louis
Tanya Luhrmann, Department of Anthropology, Stanford University
Catherine Lutz, Department of Anthropology, University of North
Carolina, Chapel Hill
Peggy Miller, Departments of Psychology and Speech Communication,
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Robert Paul, Department of Anthropology, Emory University
Antonius C. G. M. Robben, Department of Anthropology, Utrecht
University, Netherlands
Bradd Shore, Department of Anthropology, Emory University
Jason Throop, Department of Anthropology, University of California,
Los Angeles
Carol Worthman, Department of Anthropology, Emory University

More information about this series at

http://www.palgrave.com/gp/series/14947
 Elizabeth Fein · Clarice Rios
Editors

Autism in Translation
An Intercultural Conversation on Autism Spectrum
Conditions
Editors
Elizabeth Fein Clarice Rios
Duquesne University Department of Social Psychology
Pittsburgh, PA, USA Federal University of Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Culture, Mind, and Society

ISBN 978-3-319-93292-7 ISBN 978-3-319-93293-4 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93293-4

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018946796

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2018

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 Series Preface

Psychological Anthropologists study a wide spectrum of human activity:

child development, illness and healing, ritual and religion, personality,
political and economic systems, just to name a few. In fact, as a discipline
that seeks to understand the interconnections between persons and cul-
ture, it would be difficult to come up with examples of human behavior
that are outside the purview of psychological anthropology. Yet, beneath
this substantive diversity lies a common commitment. The practitioners
of psychological anthropology seek to understand social activity in ways
that are fitted to the mental and physical dimensions of human beings.
Psychological anthropologists may focus on emotions or human biology,
on language or art or dreams, but they rarely stray far from the attempt
to understand the possibilities and the limitations of on-the-ground
human persons.
In this collection of papers, psychological anthropology is brought to
bear on the complex challenge of autism. The book is unique in a num-
ber of ways. First, the standpoint of the “Global North” is most often
taken for granted in academic work, this in spite of the fact that other
perspectives may considerably enrich our understanding of the phenom-
ena we study. This volume exemplifies something that ought to happen
more often, a collaborative dialogue between the academic perspec-
tives of the north and a robust conceptual system developed elsewhere,
in this case, the South American “Collective Health” tradition. Second,
rather than considering autism as a fixed diagnostic category inscribed
into the structure of the universe, papers in this collection place autism

v
vi    Series Preface

in social and political contexts in order to illustrate variations in the con-

ceptualization of autism and of the treatment and experience of men and
women on the autism spectrum. The result is a volume that is valuable
for both theory and practice, a broadening of our thinking not only
about autism but also about human experience more broadly.

Tulsa, USA Peter G. Stromberg

 Acknowledgements

The editors of this book first met at a meeting of the Society for
Psychological Anthropology. Ever since then, SPA has been a fer-
tile intellectual home for this project. We are therefore honored to be
publishing this book within the SPA series, Culture, Mind and Society.
We’d like to thank Peter Stromberg, Yehuda Goodman, Rachel Daniel,
and Kyra Saniewski for their welcome of this book and their invaluable
help preparing it for publication. We’d also like to thank Derek Hook,
Daniela Manica, and an anonymous reviewer for their helpful comments
on various parts of this manuscript, Benjamin M. Gaddes for editorial
assistance, and Lisa Rivero for a meticulous and conceptually sound
index.
The workshop that produced this book was supported by the
Lemelson/Society for Psychological Anthropology Conference Fund,
made possible by a generous donation from the Robert Lemelson
Foundation. For the past decade, the Foundation has funded meet-
ings organized around innovative topics in psychological anthropol-
ogy, ranging from cross-cultural critiques of attachment theory to the
power of comic books to enhance understandings of medical care. These
workshops have advanced both the theory and practice of psycholog-
ical anthropology, in the kind of new directions that can emerge only
from protected time and space for good conversations and sustained
thought. In supporting an international collaboration that took place
in a country going through significant political and financial upheaval,
the Foundation took on a new set of logistical challenges. We appreciate

vii
viii    Acknowledgements

their willingness to take a chance on this workshop, and we hope this

publication will continue the tradition of excellent work emerging from
this program.
A number of people also helped to make the workshop possible.
Denize Barros contributed the striking design for our workshop mate-
rials. Christine Pollock and the Duquesne University Office of Research
assisted with the handling and disbursement of funds, as did CEPESC
(Centro de Estudos, Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento Tecnológico em Saúde
Coletiva) at Rio de Janeiro State University (UERJ). After the event was
over, Ted Gideonse made the videos of our conference talks available on
the SPA Vimeo channel. They can be viewed at https://vimeo.com/
album/3897481. Also included there are opening remarks by Kenneth
Camargo Jr., whose introduction to the tradition of Collective Health
helped to place our work in context.
We would also like to thank and acknowledge the diverse audience
that showed up to a public meeting held at UERJ, Rio de Janeiro as part
of our workshop. Among the audience, composed of health and educa-
tion professionals, as well as parents of children with autism, we would
like to particularly thank Iranice Nascimento and Monica Accioly. Iranice
and Monica have been involved with autism activism in Rio de Janeiro
for almost 20 years now. Their hard work and persistence, working with
very limited resources and under very adverse conditions, have been a
great inspiration for us throughout the whole process of organizing the
different events that composed the workshop in Rio.
Finally, our deepest respect and admiration go to all the administrative
staff and professors at UERJ, who supported in various ways the events
that took place at the university. They have been working under contin-
uously deteriorating conditions, for the past year with late salaries, and
yet have kept the university open as place for intellectually and politically
engaging forums. As they often say, these days: UERJ resiste!
 Contents

1 Introduction 1
Elizabeth Fein and Clarice Rios
1.1 Where Did This Book Come From? 1
1.2 The Event 5
1.3 The Volume 8
1.4 Broader Themes 10
References 13

Part I Political Histories of Autism

2 Autism Policy and Advocacy in Brazil and the USA 17

Rossano Cabral Lima, Clara Feldman, Cassandra Evans
and Pamela Block
2.1 Introduction 17
2.2 Twentieth Century Institutionalization in the USA 20
2.3 The Cultural Context of Deinstitutionalization
in the USA 21
2.4 Deinstitutionalization and the Emergence
of the Autism “Crisis” in the USA 24
2.5 “Exceptional Children” and the First Autistic
Associations in Brazil 27
2.6 The Brazilian Psychiatric Reform Movement 29
2.7 The Rise of CAPSi and Its Impact on Autism Care 31

ix
x    Contents

2.8 Tensions and Misunderstandings Involving Parent

Activists, Mental Health and Rehabilitation
Professionals in Brazil 33
2.9 Treatment, Education, and Rights of Autistic
Children in the USA 38
2.10 Conclusion 43
References 46

3 Psychiatric Reform and Autism Services in Italy

and Brazil 53
M. Ariel Cascio, Bárbara Costa Andrada
and Benilton Bezerra Jr.
3.1 Introduction 53
3.2 Methods 55
3.3 Psychiatric Reform in Italy and Brazil 56
3.4 Deinstitutionalization in Italy: Democratic Psychiatry
and Its Legacy of Inclusion 57
3.5 Deinstitutionalization in Brazil: Psychiatric Reform
and Psychoanalysis in the Context of Political
Transformation 59
3.6 Autism and Children’s Mental Health: Challenges
and Changes in PR 61
3.7 Italy: Psychiatry, Democratic Psychiatry,
and Neuropsychiatry 62
3.8 Brazil: Pre-reform Ethos, Special Education
and Post-reform Mental Health Services 65
3.9 Autism Today: Local Controversies in Post-reform
Contexts 68
3.10 Autism Controversies in Brazil: Advocacy, Lived
Experiences and the Paradigm of “Autism as a
Disability” 69
3.11 Italy: Advocacy, Lived Experiences, and the Paradigm
of “Autism as a Way of Being” 72
3.12 Conclusion 77
References 81

4 Commentary: “Why Not Both?” Negotiating Ideas

About Autism in Italy, Brazil, and the US 89
Francisco Ortega
4.1 Introduction: Autism and Global Mental Health 89
 Contents    xi

4.2 Autism as “Problematic Category” 91

4.3 Mobilizing Diagnostic Categories to Pragmatic Ends 93
4.4 Beyond the Organicism/Anti-organicism Divide 99
4.5 Conclusion 101
References 103

Part II Voice, Narrative and Representation

5 Music and Autism, Representation and Re-presentation:

An Ethnomusicological Perspective 109
Michael B. Bakan
5.1 Autism Spectrum Conditions and Neurodiversity 110
5.2 Autism and Ethnomusicology, Then and Now 111
5.3 Gordon Peterson, in His Own Words 116
5.4 Concluding Thoughts 119
References 126

6 Autism as a Mode of Engagement 129

Elizabeth Fein
6.1 What Do I Study When I Study Autism? 129
6.2 Trains Just Got Swept Away by These Dynamic Animals 133
6.3 The Numbers Do Not Lie, They Tell a Story 136
6.4 He Will Come Out with Something from
TV to Give Him the Words 138
6.5 That Was from Something 142
6.6 My Child Is a Toxic Waste Dump 146
References 151

7 Autism and First-Person Accounts: The Cognitive

Problem 155
Jurandir Freire Costa and Roy Richard Grinker
7.1 Introduction 155
7.2 Meanings of Autistic Experience 157
7.3 Cognitive Performance 159
7.4 Fragments of Accounts 161
7.4.1 Attfield 161
7.4.2 Mukhopadhyay 161
xii    Contents

7.4.3 Fleischmann 162

7.4.4 Tammet 163
7.4.5 Higashida 164
7.4.6 Blackman 165
7.4.7 Mukhopadhyay and Barron 166
7.4.8 Shore 168
7.4.9 Barron 168
7.5 Cognition Revisited 169
References 173

8 Commentary: Words, Voice, Silence 175

Laura Sterponi
8.1 Words 175
8.2 Voice 178
8.3 Silence 179
References 181

Part III The Autism Concept

9 Expert on Your Own Child, Expert on Your Own

World—Reinventing Autism Expertise(s) 185
Clarice Rios
9.1 Introduction 185
9.2 The Research 187
9.3 From “Specialized Treatment” to Autism Expertise 188
9.4 Expertise in Context: Who Is an Expert After All? 192
9.5 Experts in What? Raising A(n Autistic) Child
in Rio de Janeiro 197
9.6 A Context Sensitive Model of Autism Expertise 200
References 205

10 A.S.: Classification, Interpellation 207

Enrico Valtellina
10.1 Introduction 207
10.2 The Diagnosis 208
10.3 The Diagnosis as Classification 209
10.4 Aspergers Syndrome/AS 212
10.5 Diagnosis as Event 216
 Contents    xiii

10.6 “Hey, You There!” Ideology Interpellates Individuals

as Subjects 220
References 226

11 Who Owns Autism? Economics, Fetishism,

and Stakeholders 231
Roy Richard Grinker
11.1 Introduction 231
11.2 Prevalence and the Growth of Expertise 233
11.3 Fetishism 239
11.4 Conclusion 245
References 247

12 Commentary: What Are We Talking About When We

Talk About Autism? 251
M. Ariel Cascio
12.1 A Cultural Constructivist View of Autism 251
12.2 The Autism Concept 253
12.3 Exploring Classic Anthropological Questions 254
References 259

Part IV Closing Commentaries

13 Psychological Anthropology and the Study of Disability 263

Thomas S. Weisner
13.1 Introduction 263
13.2 Difference Due to Disability Is Biological and Social 264
13.3 The Experiences of Disability Matter 266
13.4 Cultural Beliefs and Practices Regarding
Disability Vary Widely Around the World 268
13.5 Social and Sociolinguistic Mechanisms Important
for Understanding ASD and Other Disability also
Are Important for Studying Many Other Topics in
Psychological Anthropology 271
13.6 Family and Parenting in Response to Disability and
Mental Illness Matter for Development: The Daily
xiv    Contents

Routine and the Power of Activities and Institutional

and Structural Conditions 273
13.7 Final Comments 279
References 279

14 Joy 283
Dawn Prince-Hughes

Index 291
 Notes on Contributors

Michael B. Bakan, Ph.D. is Professor of Ethnomusicology at Florida

State University. Dr. Bakan’s research explores the musical lives of autis-
tic individuals as composers, performers, and engaged listeners. He has
published widely on Indonesian gamelan music and has performed as a
percussionist with renowned musical artists including George Clinton,
John Cage, and Tito Puente.
Benilton Bezerra Jr., M.D., Ph.D. is Associate Professor at the
Institute for Social Medicine, State University of Rio de Janeiro. Dr.
Bezerra is a psychoanalytic psychiatrist who played a key role in Brazilian
psychiatric reform. His current research focuses on contemporary recon-
figurations of psychiatric diagnosis and their impact on subjectivity and
identity.
Pamela Block, Ph.D. is Professor and Director of the Concentration in
Disability Studies for the Ph.D. Program in Health and Rehabilitation
Sciences at Stony Brook University and the Graduate Certificate in
Disability Studies. She is also a former President of the Society for
Disability Studies (2009–2010), and a Fellow of the Society for Applied
Anthropology. Dr. Block studies multiple marginalization and the inter-
sections of gender, race, poverty, and disability in Brazil and the United
States.
M. Ariel Cascio, Ph.D. is a cultural anthropologist who studies sci-
ence and medicine, and especially the social study of autism. Their work

xv
xvi    Notes on Contributors

has been funded by the US–Italy Fulbright Commission and the

Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada’s Banting
Fellowship Program. They are currently a postdoctoral fellow at the
Neuroethics Research Unit of the Institut de recherches cliniques de
Montréal (Québec, Canada), and the data referenced in this book come
from their doctoral work at Case Western Reserve University (Cleveland,
OH, USA).
Jurandir Freire Costa, M.D. is a psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, and Full
Professor at the Institute for Social Medicine of the State University of
Rio de Janeiro. He has written on historical and contemporary topics
related to the connections between subjectivity and society and psychoa-
nalysis and culture.
Bárbara Costa Andrada, Ph.D. is a researcher at the Center for
Research in Mental Health Public Policies at the Institute of Psychiatry,
Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. She is a psychotherapist and Ph.D.
in Collective Health, and researches the intersections between mental
health public policies, disability rights, and autism.
Cassandra Evans, Ph.D. is an Adjunct Lecturer in Health and
Rehabilitation Science, Stony Brook University and Adjunct Philosophy
Instructor, Molloy and St. Jospeh’s and Suffolk Community colleges.
Cassandra is a disability studies scholar with backgrounds in philosophy
and rehabilitation counseling who analyzes mental health systems and
interventions for individuals with persistent mental disabilities in the
United States.
Elizabeth Fein, Ph.D. is Assistant Professor, Department of
Psychology, Duquesne University. Dr. Fein is a psychological anthropol-
ogist and licensed clinical psychologist who uses clinical ethnography to
explore the intersections of culture and neurodevelopmental difference.
Clara Feldman is a Ph.D. student, Institute for Social Medicine, State
University of Rio de Janeiro. She is a psychotherapist whose research
looks at autism in the Brazilian public mental health care system.
Roy Richard Grinker, Ph.D. is Professor of Anthropology, George
Washington University. Dr. Grinker has published extensively on the
manifestation and treatment of autism across diverse cultures.
 Notes on Contributors    xvii

Rossano Cabral Lima, M.D., Ph.D. is Associate Professor at the

Institute for Social Medicine, State University of Rio de Janeiro. A child
and adolescent psychiatrist, Lima is a co-author of the national guidelines
for autism treatment in the mental health system of Brazil.
Francisco Ortega, Ph.D. is Full Professor at the Institute for Social
Medicine of the State University of Rio de Janeiro and Research Director
of the Rio Center for Global Health. He has published, among other
books, Corporeality, Medical Technologies and Contemporary Culture
(London: Rutledge, 2014) and with Fernando Vidal, Being Brains:
Making the Cerebral Subject (New York, Fordham University Press, 2017).
Dawn Prince-Hughes, Ph.D. is the author of seven books including
the national best-seller Songs of the Gorilla Nation: My Journey Through
Autism and has been nominated for a MacArthur Fellowship. Her
accounts of her life on the autism spectrum explore issues of commonal-
ity and difference both within and across primate species.
Clarice Rios, Ph.D. is Lecturer at the Social Psychology Department
of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). She is a psycholog-
ical anthropologist whose current research explores the biopolitics of
autism treatment within the Brazilian Unified Health System. She is also
interested in embodied and tacit knowledge in the context of lay autism
expertise.
Laura Sterponi, Ph.D. is Associate Professor of Language, Literacy
and Culture, University of California Berkeley, Graduate School of
Education. Dr. Sterponi brings together developmental psychology and
applied linguistics to study the sociocultural underpinnings of learning
through ethnographic and discourse analytic methods. Her current work
focuses on the interactional affordances of language practices such as for-
mulaic language and reported speech in autism spectrum conditions.
Enrico Valtellina, Ph.D. collaborates with the University of Bergamo,
Italy. The author of multiple works on Disability Studies, History of
Psychiatry, and other philosophical and literary topics, he has increasingly
focused his work on relational disability since realizing that he is lost
somewhere on the autism spectrum.
Thomas S. Weisner, Ph.D. is Professor of Anthropology, Emeritus,
Departments of Psychiatry and Anthropology at UCLA. Dr. Weisner’s
xviii    Notes on Contributors

research and teaching interests are in culture and human development;

ecocultural theory and methods; medical, psychological and cultural
studies of families and children at risk (including children and adults with
developmental disabilities, ADHD, and autism); mixed methods; and
evidence-informed policy. His publications and further information are
available at www.tweisner.com.
 CHAPTER 1

Introduction

Elizabeth Fein and Clarice Rios

1.1  Where Did This Book Come From?

All knowledge emerges from a network of somewheres. Its production is
bound up in particular histories of particular people, who bring distinc-
tive sets of pragmatic arts to the balance of their resources and vulnera-
bilities. This book is no exception. The editors of this volume, who are
also the instigators of the workshop from which it emerged, first met at
the Society for Psychological Anthropology biannual conference in San
Diego in 2013. Both of us were working on autism in cultural context,
and both of us were at transition points in our own professional lives,
facing uncertain futures. Clarice, who had trained as an anthropologist
at the University of Chicago and UCLA, was completing a postdoctoral
fellowship at the Research Program in Subjectivity, Health and Medicine
at the State University of Rio de Janeiro, amidst psychoanalysts and phi-
losophers studying the impact of psychiatric knowledge and discourse
on the formation of subjectivities. Elizabeth had just completed training
in clinical psychology and anthropology at the University of Chicago’s

E. Fein (*)
Department of Psychology, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
C. Rios
Department of Social Psychology, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro,
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

© The Author(s) 2018 1

E. Fein and C. Rios (eds.), Autism in Translation, Culture, Mind,
and Society, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93293-4_1
2 E. FEIN AND C. RIOS

interdisciplinary Department of Comparative Human Development;

a year later, she would take a position in Psychology at Duquesne
University, a department advocating for a culturally and historically sit-
uated, meaning-centered psychology grounded in traditions of phe-
nomenological philosophy. We felt a synergy, not only between our own
interests but also between the communities we inhabited and the intel-
lectual currents and eddies swirling within their flows and obstructions.
In response to both the opportunities and uncertainties before us, we
decided we needed to make something. Over the following year, we met
via video-conferencing each week to discuss what its parameters might
be. Out of those conversations, the plan for the conference that would
produce this volume was born.
As our ideas coalesced, our aim became to create an event that would
place into dialogue two intellectual traditions: psychological anthropol-
ogy and the South American tradition of Collective Health. These fields
have multiple points of commonality with manifold implications for
autism. Both take as their subject the complex interplay of individuals
and their sociocultural contexts; both have developed theoretical and
methodological tools to connect the levels of analysis that are frequently
divided in debates about autism and issues of global health more broadly.
However, due to differences and distances in language and geography,
these two fields had not experienced much cross-pollination. Our hope
was to start a conversation between them.
Encompassing the fields of social science, epidemiology, and health
policy, Collective Health takes a social and political approach to the
study of health and disease, working to articulate and propagate a model
of health that is “socially established through intersubjective pacts within
economic, social and cultural contexts” (ABRASCO 2004, in Ivo de
Carvalho et al. 2007, 10). Collective Health possesses a distinct episte-
mological ethos characterized by a careful attention to the relationships
between the individual and the state, especially around contested politics
of health, and a deep grounding in the lived realities of service provi-
sion (Langdon and Follér 2012). Similarly, psychological anthropology
has a long history of examining the interaction between psyche and soci-
ocultural life, in all the particularities of each. As Tom Weisner explores
in his contribution to this volume, psychological anthropology engages
with the daily life experience of individuals, families, and communities,
developing conceptual tools for both identifying and working across lev-
els of analysis. We were particularly aware of “the position of psycholog-
ical anthropology to engage in bridging research, practice, and policy,”
 1 INTRODUCTION 3

especially when put into conversation with other disciplines and domains
of practice (Korbin and Anderson-Fye 2011, 415).
As a phenomenon with irreducibly individual and interpersonal instan-
tiations, possessing both robust similarities and intriguing differences
across contexts, autism serves as a powerful point of departure from
which to consider questions at the intersection of these two fields. How
do individual differences that exceed or transcend local norms get con-
ceptualized, diagnosed, and treated within different societies with differ-
ent medical infrastructures and expectations for social relations? How do
diverse processes of socialization affect the cross-cultural manifestation
of individual differences? How do relationships between the individual,
the community, and the state shape political claims about disability, bio-
social identity, and public health? How do individuals living under such
descriptions understand their condition and themselves? Dis/ability is
inextricably linked to the relationship between self and society (Ingstad
and Whyte 1995); the power of autism to destabilize and reinscribe
assumptions about sociality, intersubjectivity, and communication refracts
these issues in disruptive and potentially generative ways.
In order for anthropological theory to effectively address these ques-
tions, we felt, its development needs to be driven by the inclusion of
paradigms from outside the global North. However, the dominance of
English as a scholarly language, the scarcity of resources within academic
environments in low- and middle-income countries, and the challenges
of speaking across deep-seated and long-standing ontological and epis-
temological differences all contribute to the marginalization of South
American intellectual traditions within supposedly globalized discourses.
In particular, as we observed the increasing influence of work in the
field of Global Mental Health (GMH), we were becoming increasingly
concerned about the dominance of Northern perspectives and priorities
within this growing field and its interventions. One aim of this event was
to begin, in some small way, to destabilize this dominance.
A core premise of this event has always been that the contexts of
knowledge production matter. Physical spaces and arrangements, insti-
tutional infrastructures, status hierarchies, and their impact on spatial
position, the sheer distance that a voice can carry, when amplified (or
not) through one technology or another—all of these things constitute
a matrix through which ideas are born and through which they rise and
fall. It felt important to us to come together in a physical way, to be in
each other’s presence in an intentionally chosen location. We opted to
4 E. FEIN AND C. RIOS

locate the conference at the State University of Rio de Janeiro, taking

advantage of the rich theoretical and philosophical approaches thriving
within the Research Program in Subjectivity, Health, and Medicine while
addressing an identified need within the program for training in ethno-
graphic research methods. Countering the trend for South American
intellectuals to train abroad and study literatures that may not be attuned
to the needs and questions most relevant to the South American context,
we hoped instead to introduce methodological tools that could be effec-
tively adapted to address issues related to the organization of health and
of governance unique to the Brazilian context.
We hoped, especially, to counter tendencies within Global Mental
Health to depict the Global South as a place of lack, in need of rescue
through Northern intervention. As Khan et al. (2012) observe, “[i]t is
critical to note that the landscape of supportive interventions in LIMCs
[low-to-middle-income countries] has not been void of alternative
approaches to those developed in high-income countries, and that these
approaches provide equally viable targets for research” (157); however,
these approaches are often overlooked within discourses that focus on
the absence of appropriate services. We sought to explore the wide range
of understandings and practices already in place for addressing autism
spectrum conditions and other developmental differences. In doing so,
we follow Whitley’s (2014, 501) call to offer “no opposition without
proposition”: a call to counter-balance critique of mental health inter-
ventions with an exploration of possible solutions to the problematics
thus posed.
In planning the event, we made a conscious decision to prioritize
depth of representation over maximizing geographic diversity. We could
have opted to hold a “cross-cultural” conference in which we sought
scholars from as many different countries as possible. (One agency denied
our application for funding on the grounds that we had not done so).
Instead, rather than attempting to seek “thin” representation from the
widest variety of places and perspectives, we focused instead on establish-
ing a “thick” and in-depth dialogue between two scholarly traditions that
were each located within particular geopolitical and historical contexts.
In selecting our participants, however, psychological anthropology
and Collective Health provided guiding principles rather than constraints
upon acceptable disciplinary identities. We approached people whose
work explored autism situated in particular contexts, whether those con-
texts be geographic, aesthetic, or linguistic. We sought scholars who
 1 INTRODUCTION 5

were themselves positioned with regard to autism in a variety of ways:

scholars who are themselves on the autism spectrum; scholars who have
family members, partners, and friends on the autism spectrum; schol-
ars who have worked with people on the spectrum in clinical contexts,
and those who have worked with people on the spectrum in artistic and
academic collaborations. All participants, in their work, address autism
across levels of analysis, from individual development to global dis-
courses, with a focus on the particular cultural and material contexts in
which each of these phenomena manifests.
We were very fortunate to receive funding from the Lemelson/
Society for Psychological Anthropology Conference Fund. Since 2008,
this program has funded a number of small conferences and workshops
that allow in-depth work on innovative and significant topics in psy-
chological anthropology. Through the generosity of this program, we
were able to fly eleven conference participants to Rio de Janeiro, hold
the conference, and present our work to the public on the final day of
the conference, via a complex assemblage of translators and audiovisual
equipment.

1.2  The Event
Once our funding had been confirmed, we sent official invitations to the
community of scholars with whom we had been planning the event.1
Each participant was asked to prepare a twenty-minute presentation, and
invited to consider the following questions:
Conceptual framework: What do you understand yourself to be looking
at, or looking for, or looking through, in your work? How do you define
terms like “autism” and “culture” in your own work? What models of
person, society, and the relationship between them inform your work?
Method: How do you go about finding out what you find out, and how
does that affect what you find? What research paradigms do you use in
your investigations? What challenges have you run into and how did you
address those challenges?
Findings: What have you found out about autism, its social, cultural,
and political contexts, and the relationship between the two?
Each presenter was also assigned a discussant, and some time for dis-
cussion of their work, adding up to about an hour in total. The end of
6 E. FEIN AND C. RIOS

each day was capped with a summative discussion, the goal of which
was to identify and track emergent themes. The entirety of the confer-
ence was filmed, and the videos are available to view at the Society for
Psychological Anthropology Vimeo channel. These recordings became
an important part of the workshop methodology, as it allowed us both to
make the event available to a wider audience and also to revisit particu-
larly thought-provoking moments as we were preparing this volume.
Over four days of paper presentations, lively discussions, and an out-
reach event to the broader scholarly and clinical community of Rio de
Janeiro, we grappled with our own differences in position and perspec-
tive, struggling over language barriers, unfamiliar sets of assumptions, jet
lag, and the human tendency to cling to the familiar when disoriented.
We were all, on some level, differently abled at this event than we were
accustomed to being, whether this was because we were working in a
foreign location, as was the case for the visiting North American schol-
ars, or working in a non-native language, as was the case for the hosting
scholars. In working through our own understandings and misunder-
standings of each other, we generated new understandings: of the rela-
tionship between political systems, cultural models of self and social life,
and individual lived experience. We did more than talk, and listen, trying
desperately to fit everything we wanted to say into the number of hours
we had allotted; we guided each other through explorations of the Rio
streets at night, we danced to samba music together and shared meals
and long walks through gardens heavy with branches. We took a trip to
the Museum of Images of the Unconscious, founded by the pioneering
Jungian psychiatrist Nise da Silveira and honoring her rejection of prim-
itive electroshock and lobotomy in favor of expressive art therapies. We
climbed the winding stairs of the Hotel e Spa da Loucura (Hotel and Spa
of Madness), adorned with elaborate graffiti murals, where clients experi-
ment with art, music, and theater as means of symbolic healing.
The final day of the conference ended with a meeting to discuss the
form this publication would take. From the beginning, we agreed that
we wanted to produce a publication that would capture some elements
of the experience we had just shared. Particularly, we wanted to pre-
serve both its dialogic character and its element of surprise. As we talked,
we threw words and phrases up on a white board, trying to characterize
where we’d been and where we hoped to go: Community. Decentering.
Representation of togetherness. Collision. Conflict. Psychic connection.
 1 INTRODUCTION 7

Synergy. Dequotative. Voices. Ways of caring, knowing, speaking, seeing,

being, being uncomfortable. Close to nature. Committed Fair Witness.
Institutionalization. Price. Access. Things that really bother people (some
but not all of which are labels). Holding hands. Effort of defining terms.
Territories. Knowledges. Experiences. And some memorable phrases from
the event: I’d like to sleep on a bed of your voice and your ideas. There’s a say-
ing: keep one eye on the cat and one eye on the fish. Who owns autism? Maybe
autism owns us.
On that last day, we also held a meeting open to the public, attended
by about 150 mental health practitioners, scholars, educators, and advo-
cates from Rio de Janeiro and beyond. We presented, we took questions.
But the most memorable moments came when we moved outside of our
prepared words piped through translation headphones. Clarice offered
an impassioned, extemporaneous call for Brazilian scholars and practi-
tioners to embrace their/our own expertise even while enthusiastically
embracing approaches from abroad. Michael B. Bakan shared his gift of
rhythm with us in a collective drumming exercise. Dawn Prince-Hughes
got us up out of our chairs—the whole hall full of us—swinging our
arms, opening up our mouths and faces, and experimenting with how it
felt to move and communicate like gorillas.
It is impossible to relate to your colleagues in quite the same way after
sharing such an experience. In a sense, this workshop instantiated what
Callard and Fitzgerald have memorably described as “a delicate, diffi-
cult, transgressive, risky, playful, and genuinely experimental interdisci-
plinarity” (2015, 4), in which “experimental theatre and experimental
poetry promise as much—in terms of methods, knowledges, modes of
construing, and intervening in the world—as the rich legacy of experi-
mentation in the natural sciences” (ibid., 9). Our intent in bringing these
participants together into a shared physical space shares something with
their call to create a “temporary, local assemblage of motivation, inter-
est, people and machinery—in which we, and our collaborators, are able
momentarily to think something exterior to both the conventions of
experimental practice, and the taken-for-granted dynamics of epistemic
power that underwrite its conduct” (Fitzgerald and Callard 2015, 18).
We built good bones for the event—a schedule, guiding questions, a
strong mission; but at heart, our goal was to bring some people together
in a place and see what happened. This book is our attempt to show you
what emerged.
8 E. FEIN AND C. RIOS

1.3  The Volume
The volume aims to capture the unique nature of this inter-cultural con-
versation, as well as to carry it forward. We invited participants to form
international teams and work together on collaborative pieces, and did
our best to set up groups of chapters and commentators that spanned
across both geographic and disciplinary territories. The volume itself
is structured as a continuing conversation: it contains individual stand-
alone pieces that can be read in isolation; however, each section also con-
tains a response piece from a discussant, synthesizing the themes of that
section, and the volume also contains two commentaries by participants
on the event as a whole.
The first section of the volume, “Political Histories of Autism”
consists of two comparative, collaborative essays examining autism
and neurodiversity in the context of psychiatric reform movements
in the US, Italy, and Brazil. Rossano Cabral Lima, Clara Feldman,
Cassandra Evans, and Pamela Block draw on their many years of stud-
ying autism and disability in the United States and Brazil to chronicle
post-deinstitutionalization efforts to advocate for the recognition of
the full humanity and personhood of autistic people. In both coun-
tries, schisms have formed between groups that share this common
goal. This chapter compares how these tensions have taken form within
the United States and Brazil, in the context of each country’s particu-
lar and “radically different political and economic histories, health sys-
tems, conceptions of health, and ideals about the relationship between
individuals and the state” (Lima et al., this volume). M. Ariel Cascio,
Bárbara Costa Andrada, and Benilton Bezerra Jr. also take up the ques-
tion of psychiatric reform—this time in Italy and Brazil—looking at how
the biologically based and diagnosis-specific approaches once rejected
by psychiatric reformers are now embraced by a new wave of critics to
post-reform policies. In his discussant remarks, Francisco Ortega exam-
ines the presence of polarizing conflicts throughout these two compar-
ative case studies, observing how families within these systems model
pragmatic practices of integration.
The second section of the volume focuses on issues of “Voice, Narrative
and Representation.” The section begins with Michael B. Bakan exploration
of the question: what does it mean to be an ethnomusicologist of autism?
The piece calls for, and exemplifies, a form of appreciative listening, sur-
rounding and foregrounding an essay written by a musician diagnosed with
 1 INTRODUCTION 9

Syndrome. Elizabeth Fein tells a series of stories—about three young men

diagnosed with autism spectrum conditions, about her experience getting
trained on the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, and about con-
ferences where autism is attributed to environmental contamination—to
explore the possibility of understanding autism as a mode of engagement
with the world, characterized by a deep involvement with external systems
of organization. Jurandir Freire Costa and Roy Richard Grinker collaborate
on an essay that brings phenomenology and philosophy of mind to an anal-
ysis of first-person accounts of autism, approaching the issue of cognition
and rationality from the perspectives offered in these accounts as a way of
challenging claims about the nature of autistic cognitive impairment. Laura
Sterponi’s discussion identifies two strategies she sees in these essays, which
she calls denotational layering and non-referential signification, as ways to
“engage with the silence and interrogate the unspeakable” (Sterponi, this
volume).
The third and final section focuses on the concept of autism and
how it organizes both individual lives and social and economic systems.
Clarice Rios provides an ethnographic account of the Brazilian parent
association she calls Círculo da Esperança (Circle of Hope). Participants
in the program develop a form of autism expertise that bridges special-
ized knowledge of autism that comes from abroad with their locally
developed and situated ability to translate the tacit knowledge of their
own social worlds to their autistic children. Philosopher and historian
of science Enrico Valtellina provides a witty and incisive analysis of the
diagnosis of Asperger’s Syndrome as both a classification and an event,
drawing on Althusser’s notion of interpellation to narrate his own
changing relationship with the diagnosis. Roy Richard Grinker argues
that the economic power of autism can be understood through the fig-
ure of the fetish—a sacred object set apart. In the discussant remarks
that conclude the section, M. Ariel Cascio links the many meanings of
autism to classic anthropological questions, exploring implications of
“the autism concept” for debates on normality and abnormality, mind
and body, socialization and enculturation, political economy, and social
organization.
The volume closes with two sets of reflections by participants.
Thomas Weisner shares insights from a long career at the intersection
of psychological anthropology and the study of disability, tracing con-
nections between autism and the core concerns of psychological anthro-
pology: difference as both biological and social, the centralities of lived
10 E. FEIN AND C. RIOS

experience, the intersection of vulnerabilities, the complexities of social

and linguistic competence, the importance of daily routines for organiz-
ing family and community life, and the historical and institutional forces
that structure all these things. Dawn Prince-Hughes closes out the vol-
ume with her lyrical and gently humorous meditations on the immediacy
and messy power of connection between living beings.

1.4  Broader Themes
The goal of this volume is to contextualize autism within a range of
socio-political contexts, by illuminating the historical, cultural and eco-
nomic circumstances that lead to particular conceptualizations of autism
and exploring the impact of these conceptualizations on the daily lives
of those affected. The papers in this volume thus move beyond what
Solomon and Bagatell (2010) have criticized as a tendency toward
“less and less attention in autism research to phenomena that cannot
be studied at the neurobiological or molecular level, such as human
experience, social interaction, and cross-cultural variation,” (2) instead
examining autism in the context of politics, economics, aesthetics, and
citizenship. Pieces in this volume critically interrogate the construction
of autism as both a subjective and objective category, while seeking to
remain grounded in the lived experience of people for whom this cate-
gory organizes access to much-needed services, and/or provides a deeply
meaningful way to make sense of life experiences. We attend to the his-
torical, economic, and socio-political conditions that hinder or foster
such experiences. In doing so, we seek to elucidate some of the com-
plex and contingent ties between arenas too often oversimplified as “the
global” and “the local” (Bemme and D’souza 2014). Authors in this
volume engage with the ways in which autism spectrum conditions—
of all sorts, including the conditions under which autism can emerge
as a coherent category—travel through different borders and contexts.
They grapple with education and public health structures, self-advocacy
and parent activism, the entanglement between experience and psychi-
atric knowledge/expertise, and the various forms of re-presentation and
authorship afforded by these conditions.
At the heart of all of these processes is the ongoing work of meaning-
making, and the works in this volume all engage with the question of
meaning and its negotiations across a wide variety of contexts. The chap-
ters by Cascio et al. and Lima et al. compare culturally and historically
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
 Samuel Chase,
William Paca,
Maryland.
Thomas Stone,
Charles Carroll, of Carrollton.

George Wythe,
Richard Henry Lee,
Thomas Jefferson,
Virginia. Benjamin Harrison,
Thomas Nelson, jr.,
Francis Lightfoot Lee,
Carter Braxton.

William Hooper,
North Carolina. Joseph Hewes,
John Penn.

Edward Rutledge,
Thomas Heyward, jr.,
South Carolina.
Thomas Lynch, jr.,
Arthur Middleton.

Button Gwinnett,
Georgia. Lyman Hall,
George Walton.
Resolved, That copies of the Declaration be sent to the several
assemblies, conventions, and committees or councils of safety, and to
the several commanding officers of the Continental Troops: That it
be PROCLAIMED in each of the United States, and at the Head of the
Army.—[Jour. Cong., vol. 1, p. 396.]
 Articles of Confederation.

Done at Philadelphia on the 9th day of July, 1778.

[While the Declaration of Independence was under consideration
in the Continental Congress, and before it was finally agreed upon,
measures were taken for the establishment of a constitutional form
of government; and on the 11th of June, 1776, it was “Resolved, That
a committee be appointed to prepare and digest the form of a
confederation to be entered into between these Colonies;” which
committee was appointed the next day, June 12, and consisted of a
member from each Colony, namely: Mr. Bartlett. Mr. S. Adams, Mr.
Hopkins, Mr. Sherman, Mr. R. R. Livingston, Mr. Dickinson, Mr.
McKean, Mr. Stone, Mr. Nelson, Mr. Hewes, Mr. E. Rutledge, and
Mr. Gwinnett. On the 12th of July, 1776, the committee reported a
draught of the Articles of Confederation, which was printed for the
use of the members under the strictest injunctions of secrecy.
This report underwent a thorough discussion in Congress, from
time to time, until the 15th of November, 1777; on which day,
“Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union” were finally agreed
to in form, and they were directed to be proposed to the Legislatures
of all the United States, and if approved by them, they were advised
to authorize their delegates to ratify the same in the Congress of the
United States; and in that event they were to become conclusive. On
the 17th of November, 1777, the Congress agreed upon the form of a
circular letter to accompany the Articles of Confederation, which
concluded with a recommendation to each of the several Legislatures
“to invest its delegates with competent powers, ultimately, and in the
name and behalf of the State, to subscribe articles of confederation
and perpetual union of the United States, and to attend Congress for
that purpose on or before the 10th day of March next.” This letter
was signed by the President of Congress and sent, with a copy of the
articles, to each State Legislature.
 On the 26th of June, 1778, Congress agreed upon the form of a
ratification of the Articles of Confederation, and directed a copy of
the articles and the ratification to be engrossed on parchment;
which, on the 9th of July, 1778, having been examined and the
blanks filled, was signed by the delegates of New Hampshire,
Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations,
Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and South Carolina.
Congress then directed that a circular letter be addressed to the
States whose delegates were not present, or being present, conceived
they were not authorized to sign the ratification, informing them how
many and what States had ratified the Articles of Confederation, and
desiring them, with all convenient dispatch, to authorize their
delegates to ratify the same. Of these States, North Carolina ratified
on the 21st and Georgia on the 24th of July, 1778; New Jersey on the
26th of November following; Delaware on the 5th of May, 1779;
Maryland on the 1st of March, 1781; and on the 2d of March, 1781,
Congress assembled under the new form of government.]

ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION.

To all to whom these presents shall come,

We, the undersigned, delegates of the States affixed to our names,
send greeting:
Whereas the delegates of the United States of America in Congress
assembled did, on the fifteenth day of November, in the year of our
Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy-seven, and in the
second year of the independence of America, agree to certain Articles
of Confederation and Perpetual Union between the States of New
Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island and Providence
Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania,
Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and
Georgia, in the words following, viz:
Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union between the States
of New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island and
Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey,
Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina,
South Carolina, and Georgia.
 Article I. The style of this Confederacy shall be, “The United
States of America.”
Article II. Each State retains its sovereignty, freedom, and
independence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right, which is not
by this confederation expressly delegated to the United States in
Congress assembled.
Article III. The said States hereby severally enter into a firm
league of friendship with each other for their common defense, the
security of their liberties, and their mutual and general welfare;
binding themselves to assist each other against all force offered to, or
attacks made upon them, or any of them, on account of religion,
sovereignty, trade, or any other pretense whatever.
Article IV. The better to secure and perpetuate mutual friendship
and intercourse among the people of the different States in this
Union, the free inhabitants of each of these States, paupers,
vagabonds, and fugitives from justice excepted, shall be entitled to all
privileges and immunities of free citizens in the several States; and
the people of each State shall have free ingress and regress to and
from any other State, and shall enjoy therein all the privileges of
trade and commerce, subject to the same duties, impositions, and
restrictions, as the inhabitants thereof respectively: Provided, That
such restrictions, shall not extend so far as to prevent the removal of
property imported into any State to any other State, of which the
owner is an inhabitant: Provided, also, That no imposition, duties, or
restriction shall be laid by any State on the property of the United
States or either of them.
If any person guilty of or charged with treason, felony, or other
high misdemeanor, in any State, shall flee from justice, and be found
in any of the United States, he shall, upon demand of the governor or
executive power of the State from which he fled, be delivered up, and
removed to the State having jurisdiction of his offense.
Full faith and credit shall be given in each of these States to the
records, acts, and judicial proceedings of the courts and magistrates
of every other State.
Article V. For the more convenient management of the general
interests of the United States, delegates shall be annually appointed
in such manner as the Legislature of each State shall direct, to meet
in Congress on the first Monday in November, in every year, with a
power reserved to each State to recall its delegates or any of them, at
any time within the year, and to send others in their stead for the
remainder of the year.
No State shall be represented in Congress by less than two nor by
more than seven members; and no person shall be capable of being a
delegate for more than three years in any term of six years; nor shall
any person, being a delegate, be capable of holding any office under
the United States, for which he, or another for his benefit, receives
any salary, fees or emolument of any kind.
Each State shall maintain its own delegates in a meeting of the
States, and while they act as members of the committee of these
States.
In determining questions in the United States in Congress
assembled, each State shall have one vote.
Freedom of speech and debate in Congress shall not be impeached
or questioned in any court or place out of Congress; and the
members of Congress shall be protected in their persons from arrests
and imprisonments during the time of their going to and from, and
attendance on, Congress, except for treason, felony, or breach of the
peace.
Article VI. No State, without the consent of the United States in
Congress assembled, shall send any embassy to, or receive any
embassy from, or enter into any conference, agreement, alliance, or
treaty with any King, prince, or state; nor shall any person holding
any office of profit or trust under the United States, or any of them,
accept of any present, emolument, office or title of any kind whatever
from any King, prince, or foreign state; nor shall the United States in
Congress assembled, or any of them, grant any title of nobility.
No two or more States shall enter into any treaty, confederation, or
alliance whatever between them without the consent of the United
States in Congress assembled, specifying accurately the purposes for
which the same is to be entered into, and how long it shall continue.
No State shall lay any imposts or duties, which may interfere with
any stipulations in treaties entered into by the United States in
Congress assembled with any King, prince, or state, in pursuance of
any treaties already proposed by Congress to the Courts of France
and Spain.
No vessels of war shall be kept up in time of peace by any State,
except such number only as shall be deemed necessary by the United
States in Congress assembled, for the defense of such State, or its
trade; nor shall any body of forces be kept up by any State in time of
peace, except such number only, as, in the judgment of the United
States, in Congress assembled, shall be deemed requisite to garrison
the forts necessary for the defense of such State; but every State shall
always keep up a well regulated and disciplined militia, sufficiently
armed and accoutered, and shall provide and constantly have ready
for use, in public stores, a due number of field-pieces and tents, and
a proper quantity of arms, ammunition, and camp equipage.
No State shall engage in any war without the consent of the United
States in Congress assembled, unless such State be actually invaded
by enemies, or shall have received certain advice of a resolution
being formed by some nation of Indians to invade such State, and the
danger is so imminent as not to admit of a delay till the United States
in Congress assembled can be consulted; nor shall any State grant
commissions to any ships or vessels of war, nor letters of marque or
reprisal, except it be after a declaration of war by the United States in
Congress assembled; and then only against the kingdom or state, and
the subjects thereof, against which war has been so declared, and
under such regulations as shall be established by the United States in
Congress assembled, unless such State be infested by pirates, in
which case vessels of war may be fitted out for that occasion, and
kept so long as the danger shall continue, or until the United States
in Congress assembled shall determine otherwise.
Article VII. When land forces are raised by any State for the
common defense, all officers of, or under the rank of colonel, shall be
appointed by the Legislature of each State respectively by whom such
forces shall be raised, or in such manner as such State shall direct;
and all vacancies shall be filled up by the State which first made the
appointment.
Article VIII. All charges of war, and all other expenses that shall
be incurred for the common defense or general welfare and allowed
by the United States in Congress assembled, shall be defrayed out of
a common treasury, which shall be supplied by the several States, in
proportion to the value of all land within each State, granted to, or
surveyed for, any person, as such land and the buildings and
improvements thereon shall be estimated, according to such mode as
the United States in Congress assembled shall, from time to time,
direct and appoint.
The taxes for paying that proportion shall be laid and levied by the
authority and direction of the Legislatures of the several States,
within the time agreed upon by the United States in Congress
assembled.
Article IX. The United States in Congress assembled shall have
the sole and exclusive right and power of determining on peace and
war, except in the cases mentioned in the sixth article; of sending
and receiving embassadors; entering into treaties and alliances:
Provided, That no treaty of commerce shall be made whereby the
legislative power of the respective States shall be restrained from
imposing such imposts and duties on foreigners as their own people
are subjected to, or from prohibiting the exportation or importation
of any species of goods or commodities whatsoever; of establishing
rules for deciding, in all cases, what captures on land or water shall
be legal, and in what manner prizes taken by land or naval forces in
the service of the United States, shall be divided or appropriated; of
granting letters of marque and reprisal in times of peace; appointing
courts for the trial of piracies and felonies committed on the high
seas, and establishing courts for receiving and determining finally,
appeals in all cases of captures: Provided, That no member of
Congress shall be appointed a judge of any of the said courts.
The United States in Congress assembled shall also be the last
resort on appeal in all disputes and differences now subsisting, or
that hereafter may arise between two or more States concerning
boundary, jurisdiction, or any other cause whatever; which authority
shall always be exercised in the manner following: Whenever the
legislative or executive authority or lawful agent of any State in
controversy with another, shall present a petition to Congress,
stating the matter in question, and praying for a hearing, notice
thereof shall be given by order of Congress to the legislative or
executive authority of the other State in controversy, and a day
assigned for the appearance of the parties by their lawful agents, who
shall then be directed to appoint, by joint consent, commissioners or
judges to constitute a court for hearing and determining the matter
in question; but if they cannot agree, Congress shall name three
persons out of each of the United States, and from the list of such
persons each party shall alternately strike out one, the petitioners
beginning, until the number shall be reduced to thirteen; and from
that number not less than seven nor more than nine names, as
Congress shall direct, shall, in the presence of Congress, be drawn
out by lot; and the persons whose names shall be so drawn, or any
five of them, shall be commissioners or judges, to hear and finally
determine the controversy, so always as a major part of the judges
who shall hear the cause, shall agree in the determination; and if
either party shall neglect to attend at the day appointed, without
showing reasons which Congress shall judge sufficient, or, being
present, shall refuse to strike, the Congress shall proceed to
nominate three persons out of each State, and the Secretary of
Congress shall strike in behalf of such party absent or refusing; and
the judgment and sentence of the court to be appointed in the
manner before prescribed shall be final and conclusive; and if any of
the parties shall refuse to submit to the authority of such court or to
appear or defend their claim or cause, the court shall, nevertheless,
proceed to pronounce sentence or judgment, which shall, in like
manner, be final and decisive; the judgment or sentence, and other
proceedings, being in either case transmitted to Congress, and
lodged among the acts of Congress for the security of the parties
concerned: Provided, That every commissioner, before he sits in
judgment, shall take an oath, to be administered by one of the judges
of the supreme or superior court of the State, where the cause shall
be tried, “well and truly to hear and determine the matter in
question, according to the best of his judgment without favor,
affection, or hope of reward:” Provided, also, That no State shall be
deprived of territory for the benefit of the United States.
All controversies concerning the private right of soil claimed under
different grants of two or more States, whose jurisdictions, as they
may respect such lands, and the States which passed such grants, are
adjusted, the said grants or either of them being at the same time
claimed to have originated antecedent to such settlement of
jurisdiction, shall, on the petition of either party to the Congress of
the United States, be finally determined, as near as may be, in the
same manner as is before prescribed for deciding disputes respecting
territorial jurisdiction between different States.
The United States in Congress assembled shall also have the sole
and exclusive right and power of regulating the alloy and value of
coin struck by their own authority, or by that of the respective States;
fixing the standard of weights and measures throughout the United
States; regulating the trade and managing all affairs with the
Indians, not members of any of the States: Provided, That the
legislative right of any State within its own limits, be not infringed or
violated; establishing and regulating post-offices from one State to
another, throughout all the United States, and exacting such postage
on the papers passing through the same, as may be requisite to
defray the expenses of the said office; appointing all officers of the
land forces in the service of the United States, excepting regimental
officers; appointing all the officers of the naval forces, and
commissioning all officers whatever in the service of the United
States; making rules for the government and regulation of the said
land and naval forces, and directing their operations.
The United States in Congress assembled shall have authority to
appoint a committee to sit in the recess of Congress, to be
denominated “a Committee of the States,” and to consist of one
delegate from each State, and to appoint such other committees and
civil officers as may be necessary for managing the general affairs of
the United States, under their direction; to appoint one of their
number to preside; provided that no person be allowed to serve in
the office of president more than one year in any term of three years;
to ascertain the necessary sums of money to be raised for the service
of the United States, and to appropriate and apply the same for
defraying the public expenses; to borrow money or emit bills on the
credit of the United States, transmitting every half-year to the
respective States, an account of the sums of money so borrowed or
emitted; to build and equip a navy; to agree upon the number of land
forces, and to make requisitions from each State for its quota, in
proportion to the number of white inhabitants in such State, which
requisitions shall be binding; and thereupon the Legislature of each
State shall appoint the regimental officers, raise the men, and clothe,
arm, and equip them in a soldier-like manner, at the expense of the
United States; and the officers and men so clothed, armed, and
equipped, shall march to the place appointed, and within the time
agreed on by the United States in Congress assembled; but if the
United States in Congress assembled shall, on consideration of
circumstances, judge proper that any State should not raise men, or
should raise a smaller number than its quota, and that any other
State should raise a greater number of men than the quota thereof,
such extra number shall be raised, officered, clothed, armed, and
equipped in the same manner as the quota of each State, unless the
Legislature of such State shall judge that such extra number cannot
be safely spared out of the same; in which case they shall raise,
officer, clothe, arm, and equip as many of such extra number as they
judge can be safely spared. And the officers and men so clothed,
armed, and equipped shall march to the place appointed, and within
the time agreed on by the United States in Congress assembled.
The United States in Congress assembled shall never engage in a
war, nor grant letters of marque and reprisal in time of peace, nor
enter into any treaties or alliances, nor coin money, nor regulate the
value thereof, nor ascertain the sums and expenses necessary for the
defense and welfare of the United States or any of them, nor emit
bills, nor borrow money on the credit of the United States, nor
appropriate money, nor agree upon the number of vessels of war to
be built or purchased, or the number of land or sea forces to be
raised, nor appoint a commander-in-chief of the Army or Navy,
unless nine States assent to the same; nor shall a question on any
other point, except for adjourning from day to day, be determined,
unless by the votes of a majority of the United States in Congress
assembled.
The Congress of the United States shall have power to adjourn to
any time within the year, and to any place within the United States,
so that no period of adjournment be for a longer duration than the
space of six months; and shall publish the journal of their
proceedings monthly, except such parts thereof relating to treaties,
alliances, or military operations, as in their judgment require
secrecy; and the yeas and nays of the delegates of each State on any
question, shall be entered on the journal, when it is desired by any
delegate; and the delegates of a State, or any of them, at his or their
request, shall be furnished with a transcript of the said journal,
except such parts as are above excepted, to lay before the Legislature
of the several States.
Article X. The committee of the States, or any nine of them, shall
be authorized to execute, in the recess of Congress, such of the
powers of Congress as the United States in Congress assembled, by
the consent of nine States, shall, from time to time, think expedient
to vest them with: Provided, That no power be delegated to the said
committee, for the exercise of which, by the Articles of
Confederation, the voice of nine States in the Congress of the United
States assembled is requisite.
Article XI. Canada, acceding to this confederation, and joining in
the measures of the United States, shall be admitted into, and
entitled to, all the advantages of this Union; but no other colony shall
be admitted into the same, unless such admission be agreed to by
nine States.
Article XII. All bills of credit emitted, moneys borrowed, and
debts contracted, by or under the authority of Congress, before the
assembling of the United States, in pursuance of the present
confederation, shall be deemed and considered as a charge against
the United States, for payment and satisfaction whereof the said
United States and the public faith are hereby solemnly pledged.
Article XIII. Every State shall abide by the determinations of the
United States in Congress assembled, on all questions which by this
confederation are submitted to them. And the articles of this
confederation shall be inviolably observed by every State, and the
union shall be perpetual; nor shall any alteration at any time
hereafter be made in any of them, unless such alteration be agreed to
in a Congress of the United States, and be afterwards confirmed by
the Legislatures of every State.
And whereas it has pleased the Great Governor of the world to
incline the hearts of the Legislatures we respectively represent in
Congress, to approve of, and to authorize us to ratify the said articles
of confederation and perpetual union: Know ye, That we, the
undersigned delegates, by virtue of the power and authority to us
given for that purpose, do, by these presents, in the name and in
behalf of our respective constituents, fully and entirely ratify and
confirm each and every of the said Articles of Confederation and
Perpetual Union, and all and singular the matters and things therein
contained. And we do further solemnly plight and engage the faith of
our respective constituents, that they shall abide by the
determinations of the United States, in Congress assembled, on all
questions which, by the said confederation, are submitted to them;
and that the articles thereof shall be inviolably observed by the States
we respectively represent; and that the union shall be perpetual.
In witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands, in Congress.
Done at Philadelphia, in the State of Pennsylvania, the ninth day
of July, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and
seventy-eight, and in the third year of the Independence of
America.
On the part and behalf of the State of New Hampshire.—Josiah
Bartlett, John Wentworth, jr., August 8, 1778.
On the part and behalf of the State of Massachusetts Bay.—John
Hancock, Samuel Adams, Elbridge Gerry, Francis Dana, James
Lovell, Samuel Holten.
On the part and in behalf of the State of Rhode Island and
Providence Plantations.—William Ellery, Henry Marchant, John
Collins.
On the part and behalf of the State of Connecticut.—Roger
Sherman, Samuel Huntington, Oliver Wolcott, Titus Hosmer,
Andrew Adams.
On the part and behalf of the State of New York.—Jas. Duane, Fra.
Lewis, Wm. Duer, Gouv. Morris.
On the part and in behalf of the State of New Jersey.—Jno.
Witherspoon, Nath. Scudder, Nov. 26, 1778.
On the part and behalf of the State of Pennsylvania.—Robt.
Morris, Daniel Roberdeau, Jona. Bayard Smith, William Clingan,
Joseph Reed, July 22d, 1778.
On the part and behalf of the State of Delaware.—Thos. McKean,
Feb. 13, 1779, John Dickinson, May 5, 1779, Nicholas Van Dyke.
On the part and behalf of the State of Maryland.—John Hanson,
March 1, 1781, Daniel Carroll, March 1, 1781.
On the part and behalf of the State of Virginia.—Richard Henry
Lee, John Banister, Thomas Adams, Jno. Harvie, Francis Lightfoot
Lee.
 On the part and behalf of the State of North Carolina.—John
Penn, July 21, 1778, Corns. Harnett, Jno. Williams.
On the part and behalf of the State of South Carolina.—Henry
Laurens, William Henry Drayton, Jno. Mathews, Richard Hutson,
Thomas Heyward, Jr.
On the part and behalf of the State of Georgia.—Jno. Walton, July
24, 1778, Edw. Telfair, Edw. Langworthy.
 Ordinance of 1787.

An Ordinance for the Government of the Territory of the United

States Northwest of the Ohio River. [In Congress, July 13, 1787.]
Be it ordained by the United States in Congress assembled, That
the said Territory, for the purposes of temporary government, be one
district; subject, however to be divided into two districts, as future
circumstances may, in the opinion of Congress, make it expedient.
Be it ordained by the authority aforesaid, That the estates both of
resident and non-resident proprietors in the said Territory, dying
intestate, shall descend to and be distributed among their children,
and the descendants of a deceased child, in equal parts; the
descendants of a deceased child or grandchild to take the share of
their deceased parent in equal parts among them; and where there
shall be no children or descendants; then in equal parts to the next of
kin, in equal degree; and among collaterals, the children of a
deceased brother or sister of the intestate shall have, in equal parts
among them, their deceased parents’ share; and there shall, in no
case, be a distinction between kindred of the whole and half blood;
saving in all cases to the widow of the intestate, her third part of the
real estate for life, and one-third part of the personal estate; and this
law relative to descents and dower shall remain in full force until
altered by the Legislature of the district. And until the governor and
judges shall adopt laws as hereinafter mentioned, estates in the said
Territory may be devised or bequeathed by wills in writing, signed
and sealed by him or her, in whom the estate may be, (being of full
age,) and attested by three witnesses; and real estates may be
conveyed by lease and release, or bargain and sale, signed, sealed,
and delivered by the person, being of full age, in whom the estate
may be and attested by two witnesses, provided such wills be duly
proved, and such conveyances be acknowledged, or the execution
thereof duly proved and be recorded within one year, after proper
magistrates, courts, and registers shall be appointed for that
purpose; and personal property may be transferred by delivery,
saving, however, to the French and Canadian inhabitants, and other
settlers of the Kaskaskies, Saint Vincent’s, and the neighboring
villages, who have heretofore professed themselves citizens of
Virginia, their laws and customs now in force among them, relative
to the descent and conveyance of property.
Be it ordained by the authority aforesaid, That there shall be
appointed, from time to time, by Congress, a governor, whose
commission shall continue in force for the term of three years, unless
sooner revoked by Congress; he shall reside in the district, and have
a freehold estate therein, in one thousand acres of land, while in the
exercise of his office.
There shall be appointed, from time to time, by Congress, a
secretary, whose commission shall continue in force for four years,
unless sooner revoked; he shall reside in the district, and have a
freehold estate therein, in five hundred acres of land, while in the
exercise of his office; it shall be his duty to keep and preserve the acts
and laws passed by the Legislature, and the public records of the
district, and the proceedings of the governor in his executive
department; and transmit authentic copies of such acts and
proceedings every six months to the secretary of Congress. There
shall also be appointed a court, to consist of three judges, any two of
whom to form a court, who shall have a common law jurisdiction,
and reside in the district, and have each therein a freehold estate, in
five hundred acres of land, while in the exercise of their offices, and
their commissions shall continue in force during good behavior.
The governor and judges, or a majority of them, shall adopt and
publish in the district such laws of the original States, criminal and
civil, as may be necessary, and best suited to the circumstances of the
district, and report them to Congress, from time to time, which laws
shall be in force in the district until the organization of the general
assembly therein, unless disapproved of by Congress; but afterwards
the legislature shall have authority to alter them as they shall think
fit.
The governor for the time being shall be commander-in-chief of
the militia; appoint and commission all officers in the same below
the rank of general officers. All general officers shall be appointed
and commissioned by Congress.
Previous to the organization of the General Assembly, the governor
shall appoint such magistrates and other civil officers in each county
or township as he shall find necessary for the preservation of the
peace and good order in the same. After the General Assembly shall
be organized, the powers and duties of magistrates and other civil
officers shall be regulated and defined by the said assembly; but all
magistrates and other civil officers, not herein otherwise directed,
shall, during the continuance of this temporary government, be
appointed by the governor.
For the prevention of crimes and injuries, the laws to be adopted
or made shall have force in all parts of the district, and for the
execution of process, criminal and civil, the governor shall make
proper divisions thereof; and he shall proceed from time to time, as
circumstances may require, to lay out the parts of the district in
which the Indian titles shall have been extinguished, into counties
and townships, subject, however, to such alterations as may
thereafter be made by the Legislature.
So soon as there shall be five thousand free male inhabitants of full
age in the district, upon giving proof thereof to the governor, they
shall receive authority, with time and place, to elect representatives
from their counties or townships, to represent them in the General
Assembly; Provided, That for every five hundred free male
inhabitants, there shall be one representative; and so on,
progressively, with the number of free male inhabitants, shall the
right of representation increase, until the number of representatives
shall amount to twenty-five; after which the number and proportion
of representatives shall be regulated by the Legislature: Provided,
That no Person be eligible or qualified to act as a representative
unless he shall have been a citizen of one of the United States three
years, and be a resident in the district, or unless he shall have resided
in the district three years; and in either case, shall likewise hold in
his own right, in fee simple, two hundred acres of land within the
same: Provided, also, That a freehold in fifty acres of land in the
district, having been a citizen of one of the States, and being resident
in the district, or the like free hold and two years’ residence in the
district, shall be necessary to qualify a man as an elector of a
representative.
The representatives thus elected shall serve for the term of two
years; and in case of the death of a representative, or removal from
office, the governor shall issue a writ to the county or township for
which he was a member to elect another in his stead, to serve for the
residue of the term.
The General Assembly, or Legislature, shall consist of the
governor, legislative council, and a house of representatives. The
legislative council shall consist of five members, to continue in office
five years, unless sooner removed by Congress, any three of whom to
be a quorum; and the members of the council shall be nominated
and appointed in the following manner, to wit: As soon as
representatives shall be elected, the governor shall appoint a time
and place for them to meet together, and when met, they shall
nominate ten persons, residents in the district, and each possessed of
a freehold in five hundred acres of land, and return their names to
Congress; five of whom Congress shall appoint and commission to
serve as aforesaid; and whenever a vacancy shall happen in the
council, by death or removal from office, the house of representatives
shall nominate two persons, qualified as aforesaid, for each vacancy,
and return their names to Congress; one of whom Congress shall
appoint and commission for the residue of the term. And every five
years, four months at least before the expiration of the time of
service of the members of the council, the said house shall nominate
ten persons, qualified as aforesaid, and return their names to
Congress; five of whom Congress shall appoint and commission to
serve as members of the council five years, unless sooner removed.
And the governor, legislative council, and house of representatives,
shall have authority to make laws in all cases for the good
government of the district, not repugnant to the principles and
articles in this ordinance established and declared, and all bills
having passed by a majority in the house, and by a majority in the
council, shall be referred to the governor for his assent; but no bill or
legislative act whatever shall be of any force without his assent. The
governor shall have power to convene, prorogue, and dissolve the
General Assembly when in his opinion it shall be expedient.
 The governor, judges, legislative council, secretary, and such other
officers as Congress shall appoint in the district, shall take an oath or
affirmation of fidelity and of office, the governor before the President
of Congress, and all other officers before the governor. As soon as a
Legislature shall be formed in the district, the council and house
assemble, in one room, shall have authority, by joint ballot, to elect a
delegate to Congress, who shall have a seat in Congress, with a right
of debating, but not of voting during this temporary government.
And for extending the fundamental principles of civil and religious
liberty, which form the basis whereon these republics, their laws and
constitutions, are erected; to fix and establish those principles as the
basis of all laws, constitutions, and governments, which forever
hereafter shall be formed in the said Territory; to provide, also, for
the establishment of States, and permanent government therein, and
for their admission to a share in the Federal councils on an equal
footing with the original States, at as early periods as may be
consistent with the general interest:
It is hereby ordained and declared, by the authority aforesaid,
That the following articles shall be considered as articles of compact,
between the original States and the people and States in the said
Territory, and forever remain unalterable, unless by common
consent, to wit:
Article 1. No person, demeaning himself in a peaceable and
orderly manner, shall ever be molested on account of his mode of
worship or religious sentiments, in the said Territory.
Art. 2. The inhabitants of the said Territory shall always be
entitled to the benefits of the writ of habeas corpus, and of the trial
by jury; of a proportionate representation of the people in the
Legislature, and of judicial proceedings according to the course of
the common law. All persons shall be bailable, unless for capital
offenses, where the proof shall be evident or the presumption great.
All fines shall be moderate; and no cruel or unusual punishments
shall be inflicted. No man shall be deprived of his liberty or property
but by the judgment of his peers, or the law of the land; and should
the public exigencies make it necessary for the common preservation
to take any person’s property, or to demand his particular services,
full compensation shall be made for the same. And, in the just
preservation of rights and property, it is understood and declared
that no law ought ever to be made, or have force in the said Territory,
that shall, in any manner whatever, interfere with, or affect, private
contracts or engagements, bona fide and without fraud, previously
formed.
Art. 3. Religion, morality, and knowledge, being necessary to good
government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of
education shall forever be encouraged. The utmost good faith shall
always be observed toward the Indians; their lands and property
shall never be taken from them without their consent; and in their
property, rights, and liberty they shall never be invaded or disturbed,
unless in just and unlawful wars authorized by Congress; but laws
founded in justice and humanity shall, from time to time, be made
for preventing wrongs being done to them, and for preserving peace
and friendship with them.
Art. 4. The said Territory, and the States which may be formed
therein, shall ever remain a part of this confederacy of the United
States of America, subject to the Articles of Confederation, and to
such alterations therein as shall be constitutionally made; and to all
the acts and ordinances of the United States in Congress assembled,
conformable thereto. The inhabitants and settlers in the Territory
shall be subject to pay a part of the Federal debts, contracted or to be
contracted, and a proportional part of the expenses of Government,
to be apportioned on them by Congress, according to the same
common rule and measure by which apportionments thereof shall be
made on the other States; and the taxes for paying their proportion
shall be laid and levied by the authority and direction of Legislatures
of the district or districts, or new States, as in the original States,
within the time agreed upon by the United States in Congress
assembled. The Legislatures of those districts, or new States shall
never interfere with the primary disposal of the soil by the United
States in Congress assembled, nor with any regulations Congress
may find necessary for securing the title in such soil to the bona fide
purchasers. No tax shall be imposed on lands the property of the
United States; and in no case shall non-resident proprietors be taxed
higher than residents. The navigable waters leading into the
Mississippi and St. Lawrence, and the carrying places between the
same, shall be common highways, and forever free, as well to the
inhabitants of the said Territory as to the citizens of the United
States, and those of any other States that may be admitted into the
confederacy, without any tax, impost, or duty therefor.
Art. 5. There shall be formed in the said Territory not less than
three, nor more than five States; and the boundaries of the States, as
soon as Virginia shall alter her act of cession, and consent to the
same, shall become fixed and established as follows, to wit: The
western State in the said territory shall be bounded by the
Mississippi, the Ohio, and Wabash Rivers; a direct line drawn from
the Wabash and Post Vincents, due north, to the territorial line
between the United States and Canada; and by the said territorial
line to the Lake of the Woods and Mississippi. The middle States
shall be bounded by the said direct line, the Wabash, from Post
Vincents to the Ohio, by the Ohio, by a direct line drawn due north
from the mouth of the Great Miami to the said territorial line, and by
the said territorial line. The eastern State shall be bounded by the
last mentioned direct line, the Ohio, Pennsylvania, and the said
territorial line: Provided, however, And it is further understood and
declared that the boundaries of these three States shall be subject so
far to be altered, that, if Congress shall hereafter find it expedient,
they shall have authority to form one or two States in that part of the
said Territory which lies north of an east and west line drawn
through the southerly bend or extreme of Lake Michigan. And
whenever any of the said States shall have sixty thousand free
inhabitants therein, such State shall be admitted, by its delegates,
into the Congress of the United States, on an equal footing with the
original States in all respects whatever; and shall be at liberty to form
a permanent constitution and State government: Provided, The
constitution and government so to be formed shall be republican,
and in conformity to the principles contained in these articles; and,
so far as it can be consistent with the general interest of the
confederacy, such admission shall be allowed at an earlier period,
and when there may be a less number of free inhabitants in the State
than sixty thousand.
Art. 6. There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in
the said Territory, otherwise than in the punishment of crimes,
whereof the party shall have been duly convicted: Provided always,
That any person escaping into the same, from whom labor or service
is lawfully claimed in any one of the original States, such fugitive