Robert Chapman (philosopher)
{{Short description|English philosopher and writer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2024}}
{{Infobox academic
| education = University of Essex (Ph.D., 2018)
| thesis_title = Autism, Neurodiversity, and the Good Life: On the very possibility of autistic thriving
| thesis_url = https://www.proquest.com/docview/2204750211/73E6D1D3AAE14BF1PQ
| birth_date = 1989 or 1990
}}Robert Chapman is an English philosopher, teacher and writer, best known for their work on neurodiversity studies and the philosophy of disability. They are the first assistant professor of critical neurodiversity studies, and as of 2024, work at the Institute for Medical Humanities at Durham University.
Early life and education
Chapman was born in 1989 or 1990. During their childhood, they lived in low-income housing in London and, later, elsewhere in England. They struggled with learning problems and dropped out of school at age 15. After living with friends, Chapman became homeless for a time. Due to struggling outside in winter conditions, Chapman entered the foster care system.{{Cite book |last=Chapman |first=Robert |title=Empire of Normality: Neurodiversity and Capitalism |date=2023 |publisher=Pluto Press}}{{Primary source inline|date=December 2024}}
During the 2000s, Chapman studied philosophy at the University of Southampton. In 2013, after learning they are autistic, they completed their master's degree and began their doctorate at the University of Essex with a focus on neurodiversity as a theory, developing a concept of autistic thriving. In 2018, they defended their thesis,{{cite web |last=Tremain |first=Shelley |author-link=Shelley Lynn Tremain |date=2022-11-16 |title=Dialogues on Disability: Shelley Tremain Interviews Robert Chapman |url=https://biopoliticalphilosophy.com/2022/11/16/dialogues-on-disability-shelley-tremain-interviews-robert-chapman/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230401021040/https://biopoliticalphilosophy.com/2022/11/16/dialogues-on-disability-shelley-tremain-interviews-robert-chapman/ |archive-date=2023-04-01 |access-date=2024-05-01 |work=Biopolitical Philosophy}}{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2023-09-21 |title=Welcoming Robert Chapman |url=https://www.durham.ac.uk/research/institutes-and-centres/medical-humanities/about-us/news/welcoming-robert-chapman/ |access-date=2024-02-18 |website=Durham University |language=en-gb}} Autism, Neurodiversity and the Good Life, which was funded by the Shirley Foundation.{{Cite web |last=Aftab |first=Awais |date=2021-09-24 |title=The Neurodiversity Paradigm in Psychiatry: Robert Chapman, PhD |url=https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/neurodiversity-paradigm-psychiatry |access-date=2024-02-18 |website=Psychiatric Times |language=en}}
Career
Chapman has worked at the University of Bristol, King's College London, the University of Essex, and Sheffield Hallam University. In 2023, they were invited as a Visiting Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities at the University of Edinburgh.{{Cite web |last=Sarah |date=2020-11-03 |title=You're creating space for research |url=https://alumni.blogs.bristol.ac.uk/2020/11/03/youre-creating-space-for-research/ |access-date=2024-02-18 |website=University of Bristol |language=en-GB}} In September of that year, they joined the Institute for Medical Humanities at Durham University as an assistant professor of Critical Neurodiversity Studies.
Prior to obtaining their doctorate, Chapman worked in a number of manual labor and factory jobs.{{Citation needed|date=December 2024}} Following their doctorate, they worked at Bristol University as a temporary lecturer, then as a research fellow. From 2019 to 2021, they were a Vice Chancellor's Research Fellow at the University of Bristol, where they studied neurodiversity and well-being. Since 2021, Chapman then served as a senior lecturer in education at Sheffield Hallam University. In 2023, they became world's first assistant professor of critical neurodiversity studies, at Durham University.{{cite web |url=https://19thnews.org/2024/04/neurodiversity-term-judy-singer-autistic-advocates/|title=Who coined the term 'neurodiversity?' It wasn't Judy Singer, some autistic academics say|date=2024-04-23|access-date=2024-05-01|work=19th News|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240425001555/https://19thnews.org/2024/04/neurodiversity-term-judy-singer-autistic-advocates/|archive-date=2024-04-25}}{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2024-10-31 |title=Funding to neurodiversify academia |url=https://www.durham.ac.uk/news-events/latest-news/2024/11/funding-to-neurodiversify-academia/ |access-date=2024-11-01 |website=Durham University |language=en-gb}} Outside of academic activity, Chapman has also written articles for Psychology Today{{cite web |access-date=2024-05-01 |archive-date=2024-02-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240218034055/https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/neurodiversity-paradigm-psychiatry |date=2021-09-21 |title=The Neurodiversity Paradigm in Psychiatry: Robert Chapman, PhD |url=https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/neurodiversity-paradigm-psychiatry |work=Psychiatric Times}} and Boston Review.{{Cite web |last=Chapman |first=Robert |title=The Future of Neurodiversity |url=https://www.bostonreview.net/forum/the-future-of-neurodiversity/ |website=Boston Review}}
In 2023, Chapman published their first book, Empire of Normality: Neurodiversity and Capitalism, which focuses on developing a Marxist perspective on neurodiversity.{{cite web |access-date=2024-05-01 |archive-date=2023-12-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231205220409/https://www.canalautismo.com.br/noticia/livro-sobre-neurodiversidade-e-capitalismo-e-lancado/ |date=2023-11-19 |title=Livro sobre neurodiversidade e capitalismo é lançado |url=https://www.canalautismo.com.br/noticia/livro-sobre-neurodiversidade-e-capitalismo-e-lancado/ |work=Canal Autismo}}
Positions
{{Autism rights movement|people}}
= Neurodiversity =
Chapman defines the neurodiversity movement as a social justice movement that aims to change the way mental disability and neurodevelopmental conditions are observed with the goal of being perceived in a socio-ecological approach to disability.{{cite web |date=2021-09-21 |title=The Neurodiversity Paradigm in Psychiatry: Robert Chapman, PhD |url=https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/neurodiversity-paradigm-psychiatry |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240218034055/https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/neurodiversity-paradigm-psychiatry |archive-date=2024-02-18 |access-date=2024-05-01 |work=Psychiatric Times}} They make frequent references to authors such as Nick Walker and Judy Singer and those authors' proposals for conceptualizing neurodiversity. Chapman argues that, historically, neurodiversity as a movement has had a political approach based on identity, which, from their perspective, is a liberal view.
Chapman argues that the correct interpretation of the concept of neurodiversity contributes to the further development of its theoretical and practical side, and that its multiple definitions are evolving over time.{{cite book |author=Chapman, Robert |url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780429322297-21/defining-neurodiversity-research-practice-robert-chapman |title=Neurodiversity Studies: A New Critical Paradigm |date=2020 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-429-32229-7 |pages=218–220 |chapter=Defining neurodiversity for research and practice |doi=10.4324/9780429322297-21}} Much of their work has been on the fundamental concepts of neurodiversity as they pertain to philosophy of science, most notably their development of an ecological model of mental functioning{{Cite journal |last=Chapman |first=Robert |date=November 2021 |title=Neurodiversity and the Social Ecology of Mental Functions |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33577400/ |journal=Perspectives on Psychological Science: A Journal of the Association for Psychological Science |volume=16 |issue=6 |pages=1360–1372 |doi=10.1177/1745691620959833 |issn=1745-6924 |pmid=33577400}} and analysis of the metaphysics of diagnosis. They have also discussed the relationship of neurodiversity to explanatory models of disability, such as the social model of disability and the value-neutral model proposed by philosopher Elizabeth Barnes.{{cite book |author=Abreu, Tiago |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XCpcEAAAQBAJ&q=modelo+neurodiversidade |title=O que é neurodiversidade? |date=2022 |publisher=Cânone Editorial |isbn=9786588321096 |location=Goiânia |page=52}}
Gerald Roche has argued that Chapman's definition of neurodivergent Marxism is “an intersectional approach to analysing how capitalism produces and maintains multiple forms of oppression, to ensure that new sites of extraction can be constantly identified and exploited in the endless pursuit of capital accumulation.”{{cite web |date=2024-04-02 |title=Empire of Normality – review |url=https://www.redpepper.org.uk/culture-media/books/empire-of-normality-review/ |access-date=2024-05-01 |work=Red Pepper}} Awais Aftab has said that Chapman's work “has had a substantial impact on my own thinking, and their writings have consistently forced me, and many others, to rethink long-standing assumptions related to pathology and medical care.” Julie Dind stated in a review of the book Neurodiversity Studies: A New Critical Paradigm, which included Chapman's writings, that one of their essays successfully challenges the tragic perspective on autism promoted by medicine.{{cite journal |author=Dind, Julie |date=2021 |title=Review of: Bertilsdotter Rosqvist, Hanna, et al., editors. Neurodiversity Studies: A New Critical Paradigm. Routledge, 2020. |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/13623613231181477 |doi=10.1177/13623613231181477 |periodical=Disability Studies Quarterly|volume=27 |issue=5 |pages=1173–1176 |pmid=37354034 }} In 2023, Tiago Abreu argued that Chapman's work manages to provide an effective state-of-the-art and historical contextualization of neurodiversity.{{cite web |date=2023-09-01 |title=Introvertendo 257 - As Vertentes da Neurodiversidade |url=https://www.introvertendo.com.br/podcast/introvertendo-257-as-vertentes-da-neurodiversidade/ |access-date=2024-05-01 |work=Introvertendo}}
=Psychiatry=
In various articles and especially in their book Empire of Normality: Neurodiversity and Capitalism, Chapman has criticized how psychiatrists and the field of psychiatry deal with the issue of mental health and disability. In this book, they build on existing work that urges the need for alternatives to psychiatry and clinical psychology, led by and for neurodivergent people alongside those who identify as mad, psychiatric survivors, and disabled. They also note radical psychiatrists who have influenced their approach, such as Franco Basaglia and Franz Fanon.
Chapman has also critiqued the libertarian right Szaszian tradition, which follows the work of Thomas Szasz, in anti-psychiatry and critical psychiatry. In 2022, Chapman said that “a lot of critical psychiatry today is about emphasizing how people with mental health diagnoses are not 'really' disabled–not like 'really' disabled people–because mental health is a political issue rather than a medical issue. For me, however, all issues concerning health and disability are political issues; so, that is a false binary".{{cite web |access-date=2024-05-01 |date=2022-11-17 |title=Robert Chapman: 'Todas as questões relativas à saúde e deficiência são questões políticas' |url=https://www.canalautismo.com.br/noticia/robert-chapman-todas-as-questoes-relativas-a-saude-e-deficiencia-sao-questoes-politicas/ |work=Canal Autismo}} Chapman has also emphasized how Szasz saw himself as a proponent of Hayekian neoliberalism.
John Cromby, for Mad in the UK, responded critically to Chapman's approach in Empire of Normality, arguing that the work “misrepresents antipsychiatry” in terms of historical context and use of the term, and argued that it “tends towards idealism.”{{cite web |access-date=2024-05-01 |date=2024-04-23 |title="Empire of Normality: neurodiversity and capitalism" a review: The Empire Has No Clothes |url=https://www.madintheuk.com/2024/04/empire-of-normality-robert-chapman/ |work=Mad in the UK}} Sam Fellowes for Philosophy of Medicine described Chapman's discussion of anti-psychiatry as “nuanced and helpful”, providing a balanced view of anti-psychiatry which distinguishes between different ideologies in the tradition, and acknowledges that even those the author opposes raised important issues.{{Cite journal |last=Fellowes |first=Sam |date=2024-05-09 |title=Neurodiversity, Liberal Capitalism, and Self-Understanding: A Review of Robert Chapman's Empire of Normality: Neurodiversity and Capitalism |url=http://philmed.pitt.edu/philmed/article/view/201 |journal=Philosophy of Medicine |volume=5 |issue=1 |doi=10.5195/pom.2024.201 |issn=2692-3963|doi-access=free }}
Personal life
Books
- {{Cite book |last=Chapman |first=Robert |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=clS6zwEACAAJ |title=Empire of Normality: Neurodiversity and Capitalism |date=2023-11-20 |publisher=Pluto Press |isbn=978-0-7453-4866-7 |language=en}}
References
{{reflist|30em}}
External links
- {{Google Scholar ID|id=9587710224044597276}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Chapman, Robert}}
Category:21st-century English writers
Category:English non-binary writers
Category:English writers with disabilities
Category:LGBTQ writers with disabilities
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:21st-century English philosophers