AMEND - eArly Modern European NeuroDivergence

This project will significantly shift the understanding of what we currently call neurodivergence by investigating the analogous concept(s) used by early modern people. Establishing a longer conceptual history of neurodivergence than currently exists, AMEND will nurture neurodivergent people’s agency and wellbeing. AMEND is the first Europe-wide analysis of neurodiversity and neurodivergence in early modern literary, legal, and theological texts (encompassing the years 1550-1750, with key texts in English, Spanish, Polish, and neo-Latin). By centring the authority of neurodivergent people’s lived experiences and our ways of interpreting texts, the project takes an ethical approach to the study of early modern literature. AMEND pursues three key goals, and is divided accordingly into three strands: first, to investigate the significance and signification of neurodivergence in early modern Europe, across languages and cultures, remaining attentive to early modern cross-cultural encounters; second, to challenge ableism in academia and gain new insights into literature by honing neurodivergent reading as a critical discipline; third, to explore the potential of early modern texts to help us understand neurodivergent experiences in the present. Through these complementary strands, AMEND will create conditions in which neurodivergent people can flourish by developing new ways of using early modern texts in wellbeing-related contexts.