Neurodivergence in Magical Universes

This Research & Knowledge Exchange Doctoral Project brief summarises our priority areas of research interest under the heading of: Neurodivergence in Magical Universes

We welcome all research degree applications aligned with and in response to this brief.

This project seeks to bring together two areas have separately received considerable public and scholarly attention in recent years but have not yet been looked at in terms of their joint literary significance. The overwhelming success of JK Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and its six companion novels was transformational in that it brought a fictional universe into everyday discourse. Although stories of magical schools and systems are hardly new – Ursula Le Guin’s Earthsea series being a notable example – they are now a literary trope. Authors as diverse as Terry Pratchett, Leah Bardugo, David Slayton, Holly Black, Garth Nix, and Lev Grossman have explored this territory.  

The second thread concerns neurodiversity – specifically, the massive increase in the number of adults and children being diagnosed with autism, ADHD, dyspraxia, and/or other forms of neurodivergence. There has been a significant degree of media coverage of, for example, the rise in ‘AuDHD’ and adult-autism diagnoses, for example. In popular culture, neurodivergence is sometimes referred to as a ‘superpower’ due to the way information is processed and the lateral thinking that can result. Yet there is also a hesitation among neurodiverse people about being both stereotyped and medicalised. 

Literary protagonists in novels involving magical systems and schools are often coded as autistic even if they are not explicitly named as such. Researchers might like to consider questions such as, How do these narratives shed light on the complexities of neurodiverse experience? Do these characters challenge stereotypes or reinforce them? How are these mythical and magical narratives reframed to subvert existing or to create new power structures?  

We are seeking innovative proposals that reinvent or investigate how fictional representations of magic and neurodivergence intersect. Critical or practice-based proposals are welcomed on creative writing, literature, film, and television.   

Projects deriving from this brief are expected to sit within the Research & Knowledge Exchange strategy and the following department.

All successful research degree project proposals must emphasise a clear alignment between the project idea and our Research & Knowledge Exchange strategy.