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Making Space for the Other: Auto-ethnographic Stories and Self-Reflections about Life in a Flemish Institution for People with an Intellectual Disability This research departs from the alienation I experienced in the course of fieldwork as a caregiver in a Flemish institution for people with an intellectual disability. Alienation is considered as a tool in social and cultural anthropology to obtain scientific knowledge and insights. It is a precondition that enables to relate with the strangeness of the other. This research further investigates this claim, and seeks to give an answer to the question what this means for the discipline of anthropology and the care given to people with an intellectual disability. Alienation embraces in this research a double movement: on the one hand is refers to a clash between the self of the researcher and the other (amongst others, the special culture of the institution, view of and interaction with the disabled body, intrusive smells and strange noises, bodily fluids). In this stage, the self of the researcher is locked up in an enclosed mental world which can be considered as a static entity that is merely surrounded by impenetrable boundaries. In the second movement, an intense exchange takes place between the researcher – caregiver and the institutional surrounding. This interplay takes place in a space-in-between, an open and creative mental space. Attention here is focused on the ‘performance’ of the researcher – caregiver and the way he understands, interprets and create meaning through a simultaneous internal dialogue. The internal or subjective perspective of the researcher – caregiver comprises two ethnographic parts: the first part consists of the ‘hard’ data of the institution, meaning the functioning of the system of care, including an understanding of routine, recursive space-time structures and protocol; the second part maps the framework of reference of the researcher - caregiver. The first part translates the aim of the institution to make a balanced living environment that prevents residents and staff members to collide continuously with the side effects of intellectual and/or physical impairments. The pursuit of this utopian state of balance is described as the ‘model of institutional balance’. The researcher – caregiver distinguishes three dynamics that sustain the continuity of this model: anticipate – reinterpret – improvise. The second part portrays the researcher – caregiver’s experience and perception of the institutional environment. This part is described as ‘the invisible world of the institution’. It occurs underneath the skin and in the mind of the observer. It illustrates that subjective experiences of the researcher – caregiver link up with the institutional life. However, it should be stressed that the two ethnographic parts make up an organic whole. Their interference is described from the point of view of the researcher – caregiver. Auto-ethnographicstories and self-reflections are the building blocks of this research. This resulted in a self-willed style of writing consisting out of a collection of different texts (subjective stories, theoretical considerations, excerpts of files, notes, reports). A connection is sought between the subjective, the cultural and the theoretical level. These perspectives together constitute the framework of reference by which the institutional setting was perceived and coherently presented. Writing auto-ethnographic stories and self-reflections is a relevant strategy to portray the process of mental growth of the researcher – caregiver. It also generates an additional perspective about the figure of the resident, namely as a ‘giver of knowledge and information’. Placing the resident in this position however requires a redefinition of the traditional understanding of care. Residents with an intellectual disability can only be depicted as ‘givers’ when the caregivers identify themselves as ‘receivers’. In the current system of care this perspective is neither a theme nor a practice. This research formulates some of the conditions to further enhance a critical introspection of the institutional way of thinking and acting

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