Minnesota State University, Mankato
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Exploring Cultural Perspectives on Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Literature Review
No full textAutism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental condition characterized by impairments in personal, social, academic, or occupational functioning. Despite its universal recognition, perceptions and responses to autism vary widely across different cultural contexts. This paper explores the impact of cultural perspectives on the diagnosis, intervention, and support for individuals with autism. It highlights how cultural beliefs, values, and societal norms shape the understanding and management of ASD, revealing significant differences in diagnostic practices and support systems around the world. The paper discusses how cultural factors influence the interpretation of autism, using case studies from diverse settings, including Africa, Southeast Asia, China, and indigenous communities such as the Navajo. For instance, in many African societies, autism is often perceived as a spiritual condition, complicating access to appropriate medical care. Conversely, the Western medical model often frames autism as a disorder to be fixed, which can lead to a deficit-focused view. By bridging cultural gaps and fostering a more inclusive understanding of autism, this paper advocates for improved diagnostic practices and support services, ultimately promoting a more equitable and compassionate global approach to ASD
From the Editor
No full textLetter from the Editor of the Communication and Theater Association of Minnesota Journal, Dr. Tanya Miller, for Volume 48, 2025 issue
Three Good Things and Family Process
No full textThere is a need for adaptive and affordable prevention/intervention strategies to promote happiness, health, and well-being in families. Three Good Things (3GT) is a free exercise from the field of positive psychology meant to shift an individual’s focus and perceptions towards gratitude. 3GT promotes focusing on gratitude by reflecting on what an individual is grateful for from the past day/week. Persons are encouraged to write down and share their 3GT with another individual. A mindset of gratitude is closely associated with improved happiness, health, and well-being. The exercise of reflecting on 3GT is adaptive to most individuals/families. To date, most studies using the 3GT intervention have focused on individuals, leaving a gap in the literature for family process. This one-time, cross-sectional qualitative study (n = 89) examined how families experienced the 3GT intervention, together. Researchers conducted a systematic qualitative thematic analysis to determine prominent themes and supportive quotes. Findings from this study may be used to inform educators, clinicians and individuals who work with families on strategies to promote overall family happiness, health, and well-being
Blindness Through the Looking Glass [book review]
No full textThis review analyzes Gili Hammer’s Blindness Through the Looking Glass: The Performance of Blindness, Gender, and the Sensory Body. This book offers insight into the lives of blind women in Israel and challenges assumptions about beauty, femininity, and gender through interviews and years of Hammer\u27s fieldwork as an anthropologist. She shows how blindness is not defined by what is missing, but by how women use their experiences to shape their own understandings of gender and society. The book explores gender identity, visual culture, and the sensory body, highlighting how blind women navigate a world so centered on visual beauty while also redefining what it means to embody femininity
Improvising Across Abilities: Pauline Oliveros and the Adaptive Use Musical Instrument [book review]
No full textThis book reviews how the AUMI movement has evolved in the years since its inception, with the people involved in it most closely detailing its impact on music education and disability activism. Narratives, case studies, and personal reflections highlight Oliveros’ philosophical and realized contributions to the AUMI movement, which until this book’s publication has received little attention
Surrogate Apologia: Posthumous Image Repair for Mac Miller, Chris Cornell, and Naomi Judd
No full textThe essay examines the surrogate image repair/apologia offered by the family and friends of deceased musicians Mac Miller, Chris Cornell, and Naomi Judd following their untimely deaths from drug overdose or suicide. Typical image repair cases involve harmful behaviors, such as infidelity, violence, and racism, along with offenders required to speak on their own behalf in order to fend off threats to reputation. In the three cases explored in this analysis, the image threats emerged posthumously as surrogates spoke in defense of the legacies of these great musical artists. In order to fend off attacks from music fans, internet trolls, and professional media outlets, they typically used strategies of bolstering, mortification, defeasibility, shifting blame, attacking the accuser, and corrective action, but would employ them in different ways and with much different purposes than we see with self-apologia. The study extends our understanding of apologia generally by examining how it functions outside of typical image repair contexts and with different rhetors tasked with the goal of repairing image
Plate 02: Cannon River Sheet 2
No full texthttps://cornerstone.lib.mnsu.edu/maps-mn-river-surveys-volume1/1003/thumbnail.jp
Plate 10: Crow Wing River Sheet 3
No full texthttps://cornerstone.lib.mnsu.edu/maps-mn-river-surveys-volume1/1011/thumbnail.jp
Plate 18: Mississippi River Sheet 1
No full texthttps://cornerstone.lib.mnsu.edu/maps-mn-river-surveys-volume1/1019/thumbnail.jp
Plate 21: Crow Wing River Sheet 2
No full texthttps://cornerstone.lib.mnsu.edu/maps-mn-river-surveys-volume2/1020/thumbnail.jp