“Taking black studies seriously as the epistemology of operation from which to practice thought, Erin Manning does more than simply apply black studies to conversations about neurotypicality, autism, and language; she grapples with what black studies attempts to do—to shift the epistemological horizon of thought's horizon.”
- Ashon T. Crawley, author of, The Lonely Letters
“Given her expertise, philosophical acumen, and passion for questions of neurodiversity, I am excited that Erin Manning is the person to orchestrate the encounter between neurodiversity and blackness. Who else but Manning could bring together explorations into process philosophy, experimental practice, black studies, and neurodiversity? This is a superb and important work.”
- Stefano Harney, coauthor of, The Undercommons: Fugitive Planning and Black Study
"The argument of the book ranges across a wide field of topical concerns: whiteness, Black sociality, neurodiversity and neurotypicality, affect and feeling, and autism, all within the scope of considerations mainly related to aesthetics, agency, freedom, and power relations. The book itself is clearly situated at the crossroads of such fields as philosophy, neuroscience, and Black studies, and will surely be of interest to graduate students and academics who are seeking the cutting-edge territory of critical work that reaches beyond the boundaries of the university as normally configured. Highly recommended. Graduate students and faculty."
- M. Uebel, Choice
"Manning’s book might also be described as a field guide for academics who want to discover or rediscover the conditions by which thinking (as theory, poetry, art, or pedagogy) might generate values apart from those prescribed by our capitalist institutions. . . . [T]he book proffers many encounters with artists, art exhibits, and artistic projects that enable us, as readers, to explore the pragmatics that Manning is invoking."
- Ada S. Jaarsma, Letters in Canada
Prelude. Fugitively, Approximately 1
1. For a Pragmatics of the Useless 15
2. Toward a Politics of Immediation 33
Pocket Practice. nestingpatching 55
3. What Things Do When They Shape Each Other 75
Pocket Practice. backgroundigforegrounding 103
4. Experimenting Immediation: Collaboration and the Politics of Fabulation 115
5. Practicing the Shizz 145
Interlude. How Do We Repair? 199
6. Me Lo Dijo un Pajarito: Neurodiversity, Black Life, and the University As We Know It 213
Pocket Practice. livingdoing 235
7. Not at a Distance: On Touch, Synesthesia, and Other Ways of Knowing 245
Pocket Practice. ticcingflapping 271
8. Cephaloped Dreams: Finance at the Limit 289
Coda. schizziganarchiving 309
Notes 317
References 345
Index 359