Autism in Representations and Social Interaction (A Current Intersections Seminar)
Current Intersections of Culture, Language and Wellbeing welcomes you to join an online seminar next Tuesday, 20th May: Autism in Representations and Social Interaction
Time: 20.5.2025, 14:00-16:00 Finnish time (12:00-14:00 UK time)
Place: Zoom https://utu.zoom.us/j/61539687855
Presentations:
Viktoriya Kuzina (University of Turku): Not only unruly white boys: what does Autism look like?
Neurodiversity has been in the spotlight of scholarly, administrative, and social discourses since the early 2000s. While the definition of neurodiversity remains vague, it revolves heavily around Autism. Yet, despite the increased visibility and awareness of Autism in recent decades, the general public understanding of it remains extremely limited and deeply rooted in media representation. Such representation tends to be narrowed down to several archetypes, which are often simplified, distorted, and devalued in the context of the neo-liberal idea of a normative bodymind available for the extraction of economic value. I invite you to look at autism representation beyond
over-rational cold-hearted savant male protagonists in its vast variety and its untapped potential for increasing awareness and redefining the narratives of autistic experiences in media and real life.
Viktoriya Kuzina is a doctoral researcher at the Centre for East Asian Studies at the University of Turku, Finland. Her interests include neurodiversity, critical autism studies, critical disability studies (crip studies), and care work in contemporary Japan. Master of Social Sciences in East Asian Studies, University of Turku, Finland. Master of Linguistics in Japanese language, Oles Honchar Dnipro National University, Ukraine.
Katja Dindar (University of Tampere): Interaction takes two – rethinking social interaction in autism
Social interactions involving autistic individuals are often examined through the diagnostic lens of difficulties attributed to the psychology of the autistic person. This conventional medical approach can fall short in contextualizing social interactions as phenomena occurring between people. Alternative approaches consider the actions of co-participants and allow, for instance, the investigation of interactional trouble as a mutual issue of reciprocity. In this presentation, I will build on empirical research and Damian Milton’s theory of Double Empathy Problem to discuss an interactional approach to social interaction in autism. I argue that methodological decisions significantly influence the construction of interactional competency in autism.
Katja Dindar is a postdoctoral researcher and clinical psychologist at Psychology at Tampere University. She has a title of docent in social interaction and communication research at the Research Unit of Logopedics at University of Oulu. Her research interests include understanding how social interactions are built between people and how autistic and non-autistic people perceive and experience such interactions. She conducts research using participatory methods.
The seminar series Current Intersections of Culture, Language and Wellbeing is a multidisciplinary online seminar organized by three networks from the University of Turku, Finland: the Cultural Interaction Researcher Network KULTVA, the Centre of Language and Wellbeing (LaWe), and the Research Center for Culture and Health. The aim of the seminar is to foster international networking and research collaboration between social sciences, humanities, and linguistics, focusing on topics related to health and wellbeing.
Time: 20.5.2025, 14:00-16:00 Finnish time (12:00-14:00 UK time)
Place: Zoom https://utu.zoom.us/j/61539687855
Presentations:
Viktoriya Kuzina (University of Turku): Not only unruly white boys: what does Autism look like?
Neurodiversity has been in the spotlight of scholarly, administrative, and social discourses since the early 2000s. While the definition of neurodiversity remains vague, it revolves heavily around Autism. Yet, despite the increased visibility and awareness of Autism in recent decades, the general public understanding of it remains extremely limited and deeply rooted in media representation. Such representation tends to be narrowed down to several archetypes, which are often simplified, distorted, and devalued in the context of the neo-liberal idea of a normative bodymind available for the extraction of economic value. I invite you to look at autism representation beyond
over-rational cold-hearted savant male protagonists in its vast variety and its untapped potential for increasing awareness and redefining the narratives of autistic experiences in media and real life.
Viktoriya Kuzina is a doctoral researcher at the Centre for East Asian Studies at the University of Turku, Finland. Her interests include neurodiversity, critical autism studies, critical disability studies (crip studies), and care work in contemporary Japan. Master of Social Sciences in East Asian Studies, University of Turku, Finland. Master of Linguistics in Japanese language, Oles Honchar Dnipro National University, Ukraine.
Katja Dindar (University of Tampere): Interaction takes two – rethinking social interaction in autism
Social interactions involving autistic individuals are often examined through the diagnostic lens of difficulties attributed to the psychology of the autistic person. This conventional medical approach can fall short in contextualizing social interactions as phenomena occurring between people. Alternative approaches consider the actions of co-participants and allow, for instance, the investigation of interactional trouble as a mutual issue of reciprocity. In this presentation, I will build on empirical research and Damian Milton’s theory of Double Empathy Problem to discuss an interactional approach to social interaction in autism. I argue that methodological decisions significantly influence the construction of interactional competency in autism.
Katja Dindar is a postdoctoral researcher and clinical psychologist at Psychology at Tampere University. She has a title of docent in social interaction and communication research at the Research Unit of Logopedics at University of Oulu. Her research interests include understanding how social interactions are built between people and how autistic and non-autistic people perceive and experience such interactions. She conducts research using participatory methods.
The seminar series Current Intersections of Culture, Language and Wellbeing is a multidisciplinary online seminar organized by three networks from the University of Turku, Finland: the Cultural Interaction Researcher Network KULTVA, the Centre of Language and Wellbeing (LaWe), and the Research Center for Culture and Health. The aim of the seminar is to foster international networking and research collaboration between social sciences, humanities, and linguistics, focusing on topics related to health and wellbeing.