Autism and Classical Myth: Foremothers: Bringing it All Back Home

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.

Monday 29 April 2019

Foremothers: Bringing it All Back Home

This week, I shall be working on my talk for the annual meeting of the Women’s Classical Committee – UK. I’m delivering the public lecture at the end, which will conclude what’s been discussed during the day, while also being geared to people who have come just for my talk. So: I shall be rounding off the AGM’s topic, and also saying something stand-alone. The topic is ‘foremothers,’ and I’ll discuss various kinds of academic ‘mothers’ who have shaped me. The abstract is here.

Here’s why I am mentioning this on the blog - it’s because I’m planning, briefly at least, to mention my work on autism and classical myth, and how this has grown out of my experiences engaging with foremothers. This will include women I have personally known, but more key I expect to be those academic mothers who have reached me through their writing.

I've said previously that all paths lead to Athena. The talk takes place in my hometown, and this hometown is one of many cities whose public art includes the goddess. The photo that heads the current posting shows this Athena. I shall be going on an academic pilgrimage to this Athena before the AGM. Also, I plan to use this Athena to frame my discussion of going home and being mothered.

More to follow…