Dementia & posthumanism: a critical perspective

Since the latter decades of the 20th century,normative concepts such as personhood and citizenship have served as a call to arms amongst those seeking to challenge stigma and improve social conditions for people living with progressive neurocognitive conditions. This paper will argue that, whilst useful, appeals to humanism in dementia have served as something of a double edged sword over the centuries; on the one hand providing practical and theoretical frameworks for advancing social justice whilst,on the other hand,re-enforcing normative understandings of what it means to be a person that,ultimately,serve to position people with dementia as deficient. The paper will then consider key principles associated with critical post-humanism and how,in our increasingly digital societies,this theoretical framework could be used to inform socially progressive approaches to dementia.