Mon., November 13, 2017, 6 pm, Lecture Series on

"Humanities in Community"

On second Mondays monthly -- excepting semester and summer breaks -- a Liberal Arts professor/instructor from the UW-Madison or Madison College will explore issues or topics and invite Q&A. See posters in our archive for descriptions of previous lectures.                                          _____________________________________

Topic: Autism...

• Why the Humanities Need It,
• Why It Needs the Humanities

Lecturer: Doug Maynard, Professorof Sociology, UW-Madison

Watch this lecture soon on Youtube: 

Doug Maynard is Conway-Bascom Professor and Harold & Arlene Garfinkel Faculty Fellow in the Department of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin—Madison. His research on the testing and diagnosis of ASD has been supported by grants from the University of Wisconsin Graduate School, the National Institutes of Health, and the National Science Foundation. 

“The last 30 years have seen an upsurge in prevalence of ASD from about 1 in 2500 in 1985 to 1 in 68 currently, resulting in public awareness whereby ‘autism increasingly appears in the everyday life of American families’ (Liu, 2010) and ‘a person with autism is no longer and oddity’ (Grinker, 2007). As familiar as ASD may currently be, the fact remains that characteristics displayed by an individual with ASD can be highly disruptive to our everyday routines and social worlds.

“ASD needs the humanities because its traditions can help us see ASD-type behaviors not just as ‘impairments’ or ‘deficits’ (per our Diagnostic and Statistical Manuals), but also as confounding and subverting commonsense rules, roles, and expectations.

“Reciprocally, the humanities need ASD because those who manifest the syndrome can play a role similar to that of the arts by providing experiences ‘enstrangement’ or ‘defamiliarization’ (ala Viktor Shklovksy) so that we become more aware of self, others, and the parameters of social worlds in which we live.

“Put differently, as Amit Pinchevski remarks,  autism exposes the ‘epistemological boundary’ between effective communication and its breakdown. Crucially, such interruption also means opportunity for exploring the other side of ordinary communication, whereby we can enhance the notion of ‘difference’ rather than ‘impairment’ or ‘deficit.’”

“Drawing on autistic autobiography, ethnography, and my research on the testing and diagnosis of ASD, I explore these matters through talk, video, and discussion.”

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ATTACHMENTS:

 For downloading, printing and distributing as convenient, you will find two sizes of flyers designed both as handouts to remind friends and as large or small posters for bulletin boards in your neighborhood coffee shops, restaurants, pubs, apartments, etc.