Review: Michael V. Angrosino (1998). Opportunity House: Ethnographic Stories of Mental Retardation

Abstract

This book summarizes ANGROSINO's participant observation of two decades of research and community service in a community house for individuals with mental retardation. The introduction provides a mirror of teaching oral history, participant observation and cultural narratives to students. In the following chapters the stories are organized by themes that present the lives, realities and daily-life experiences of individuals with mental retardation. The author contributes to the understanding of individuals with mental retardation from an insider and outsider perspectives in an attempt and to understand their humanity, feelings, and tribulations. The book gives voice to a population that has been silenced providing creative fiction that tells a story and protects the identity of those who want to be heard, the mentally retarded. URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs0204142