Tracing the influence of Fernand Deligny on Autism Studies

In recent years, I have had a growing interest in the work of Deleuze and Guttari (1972; 1980), the influence on their work by that of Fernand Deligny, and the similarities and differences between their respective philosophies and those within my own writings as an autistic academic and activist. Recently a translation of Deligny’s writing became available (Deligny, 2015). Deligny’s writing, even when translated is not easy to decipher, and perhaps reflects his rhizome-esque philosophy and practice. Yet, according to Burk (2013) there were three main principals that characterise the work of Deligny: the network as a mode of being (called the “Arachnean”), the art of acting and doing of which his methodology of “mapping” attempted to trace, and lastly, the “primordial communism” of a shared common site of living. In this presentation, these themes will be explored and contrasted with the theoretical writings of the autistic author Jim Sinclair (1993) and those of my own (Milton, 2012; 2013; 2014a; 2014b; 2014c), as well as indicating how they influenced the concepts later devised by Deleuze and Guttari (1972; 1980).