Autism and Classical Myth: Mythology in the classroom (autistic or otherwise): pitfalls and opportunities

Why classical myth and autism?

Why classical myth and autism?

The idea for this project started to take shape at a meeting in 2008 with a special needs teacher, who mentioned that, in her experience and those of her colleagues, autistic children often enjoy classical myth. I began to wonder why this might be the case, and whether – as a classicist who researches, and loves, classical myth – there was anything I could contribute. I started this blog to report on my progress which was often sporadic until the launch of the Warsaw-based European Research Council-funded project Our Mythical Childhood (2016-22) to trace the role of classics in children’s culture.

My key contribution to the project is an exploration of classics in autistic children’s culture, above all by producing myth-themed activities for autistic children. This blog shares my progress, often along Herculean paths, including to a book of lessons for autistic children focusing on the Choice of Hercules between two very different paths in life. The image above, illustrating the homepage of this blog, is one of the drawings by Steve K. Simons, the book's illustrator, of a chimneypiece panel in a neoclassical villa at Roehampton in South West London. The lessons centre on this panel.

Thursday, 6 July 2017

Mythology in the classroom (autistic or otherwise): pitfalls and opportunities

Back in March - at an event at Roehampton to help celebrate ERC Week - several of us were struck that a follow-up event would be worth exploring. And we talked about potentially holding it in Cambridge, because several of those who came to Roehampton for the evening are based there and because of the potential for co-action with the Education Faculty there and also with the Children's Literature master's programme. I can now announce that this germ of an idea has grown into Mythology and Education: History and Practice which will indeed take place in Cambridge, on Friday 27 October 2017.

The event will address the following issue. Greco-Roman mythology is used widely and imaginatively in teaching and outreach activity, in both secondary and higher education. However, there have been few opportunities to analyse the pedagogical benefits and pitfalls, or to share and explore effective practices and innovation. We now seek to address this gap in pedagogy - at a one-day workshop for academics, teachers, and students.

Our location is the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge. There's further information here, including on how to book.

The question of pitfalls vs benefits is one that I am currently grappling with in my work on autism and mythology - and I shared my thinking at the recent conference at Warsaw, Our Mythical Hope: in Children’s and Young Adults’ Culture... The (In)efficacy of Ancient Myths in Overcoming the Hardships of Life. The focus of this conference - mythological hope - points to the aspirational approach that, directed by Katarzyna Marciniak, we are taking towards the study of classical themes in children's culture. We all, I think, share a conviction that classical myth can play a part in enabling children to deal with the 'hardships of life,' to quote from the conference's subtitle.

But I also note the ‘in’ in brackets before the word ‘efficacy.’ This allowance of the possible of ‘inefficacy’ signals something that has been concerning me, namely that classics, as it is received by children, might not always play the transformative or reassuring or aspirational role that we might like it to. Colleagues working on aspects of classics in children’s literature have told me about some of the uncomfortable things that they are discovering, for example that classical themes are sometimes used to perpetuate certain stereotypes, for instance around gender. The ‘in’ also puts me in mind of certain of the experiences I have had over the last few months, which have helped bring home to me just what the responsibilities might be for me as I produce materials that could be used in work with autistic children.

I'll share these soon on this blog, and also in the chapter I'm writing for the book linked with the conference, and - also - in Cambridge this autumn.