Robert Chapman

Robert Chapman calls the "Empire of Normality" the set of scientific, institutional, cultural, and legal impositions that define what is considered pathological and what is deemed normal, based on its alignment with the mandate of productivity.

Today, cognitive capitalism has transformed the world into an increasingly uninhabitable place for both neurodivergent and neurotypical people. This is due to phenomena such as the intensification of stimuli competing for our attention, the privatization of stress described by Mark Fisher, and the growing emotional demands of service economies.

This widespread sense of distress creates the conditions for the emergence of a radical politics of neurodiversity—one that goes beyond liberal reformism and the mere expansion of rights. Only through an intersectional approach that also considers race, class, gender, and physical disability can we begin to challenge the foundations of the Empire of Normality, offering a crucial contribution to collective emancipation.

This lecture is part of the course Against the Empire of Normality, organized by the Institut d’Humanitats de Barcelona and Caja Negra.