BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//wp-events-plugin.com//7.2.3.1//EN BEGIN:VEVENT UID:0-11@blogit.utu.fi DTSTART:20250520T110000Z DTEND:20250520T130000Z DTSTAMP:20250509T130634Z URL:https://blogit.utu.fi/kultva/events/autism-in-representations-and-soci al-interaction/ SUMMARY:Autism in Representations and Social Interaction DESCRIPTION:Current Intersections of Culture\, Language and Wellbeing welco mes you to join online seminar:\nAutism in Representations and Social Inte raction\nTime: 20.5.2025\, 14:00-16:00\n\nPlace: Zoom  https://utu.zoom.u s/j/61539687855\n\n \;\n\nPresentations:\n\nViktoriya Kuzina (Universi ty of Turku): Not only unruly white boys: what does Autism look like?\n\nN eurodiversity has been in the spotlight of scholarly\, administrative\, an d social discourses since the early 2000s. While the definition of neurodi versity remains vague\, it revolves heavily around Autism. Yet\, despite t he increased visibility and awareness of Autism in recent decades\, the ge neral public understanding of it remains extremely limited and deeply root ed in media representation. Such representation tends to be narrowed down to several archetypes\, which are often simplified\, distorted\, and deval ued in the context of the neo-liberal idea of a normative bodymind availab le for the extraction of economic value. I invite you to look at autism r epresentation beyond\nover-rational cold-hearted savant male protagonists in its vast variety and its untapped potential for increasing awareness an d redefining the narratives of autistic experiences in media and real lif e.\n\nViktoriya Kuzina is a doctoral researcher at the Centre for East Asi an Studies at the University of Turku\, Finland. Her interests include neu rodiversity\, 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 Linguisti cs in Japanese language\, Oles Honchar Dnipro National University\, Ukrain e.\n\n \;\n\nKatja Dindar (University of Tampere): Interaction takes t wo – rethinking social interaction in autism \n\n Social interactions i nvolving autistic individuals are often examined through the diagnostic le ns of difficulties attributed to the psychology of the autistic person. Th is conventional medical approach can fall short in contextualizing social interactions as phenomena occurring between people. Alternative approache s consider the actions of co-participants and allow\, for instance\, the i nvestigation of interactional trouble as a mutual issue of reciprocity. I n 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 s ignificantly influence the construction of interactional competency in aut ism.\n\nKatja Dindar is a postdoctoral researcher and clinical psychologis t at Psychology at Tampere University. She has a title of docent in socia l interaction and communication research at the Research Unit of Logopedic s at University of Oulu. Her research interests include understanding how social interactions are built between people and how autistic and non-aut istic people perceive and experience such interactions. She conducts resea rch using participatory methods.\n\n \;\n\nThe 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 linguist ics\, focusing on topics related to health and wellbeing. ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://blogit.utu.fi/kultva/wp-content/uploads/ sites/141/2025/05/FINAL-Current-intersections-of-culture-language-and-well being_2-version.png END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR