Autism: Perspectives from Africa (Volume I)

This book is written at a time of a paradigm shift in the African continent where dependence on western epistemologies and ontologies are giving way to African indigenous knowledge systems. Africa has been an importer of knowledge from the west since time immemorial and this book contributes to the body of knowledge on autism spectrum disorder (ASD) from the African perspective. As a result, decoloniality and Inclusive Education have gained traction within the academic discourse, with University of South Africa (UNISA) hosting decoloniality annual conference and a summer school to stimulate academic discussions and debates with a focus on African indigenous knowledge systems and theoretical lenses as opposed to the western epistemologies.

The book also demystifies some of the misconceptions that children with ASD are a curse and punishment from God or gods. Among others, Ubuntu seems to be the dominant theoretical framework underpinning some of the research studies reported in this book.

Mary G Clasquin-Johnson (ORCID: 0000-0002-0750-6579) is a senior lecturer in the Department of Inclusive Education at the University of South Africa, and the grant holder of the Women in Research grant from which this volume originates.

Dikeledi Mahlo (ORCID: 0000-0002-1793-4382) chairs the Department of Inclusive Education at the University of South Africa.

Michel Clasquin-Johnson (ORCID: 0000-0003-2780-9718) is a professor in the Department of Religious Studies and Arabic at the University of South Africa.