Love, Hope, and Neurodiversity

Race & Resistance is pleased to welcome Professor Jason Arday alongside our resident scholar, Dr. Chantelle Lewis, to talk about their forthcoming book We See Things They’ll Never See: Love, Hope and Neurodiversity (Princeton University Press, 2025). Both will speak about their journeys in the field of Sociology, the inspiration for the book, as well as their hopes for the future of the field. The session will end with a Q&A, so come prepared with your questions.

Biography: Professor Jason Arday (he/him) is the 2022 Professorial Chair in the Sociology of Education at the University of Cambridge, Faculty of Education. Previously, Jason was Professor of Sociology of Education at the University of Glasgow in the School of Education, College of Social Sciences.

Professor Arday has also held the position of Associate Professor in Sociology at Durham University in the Department of Sociology and Deputy Executive Dean for People and Culture in the Faculty of Social Science and Health. He is a Visiting Professor at The Ohio State University in the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, University of Glasgow in the School of Education and an Honorary Professor at Durham University in the Department of Sociology.

He is a Trustee of the Runnymede Trust, the UK’s leading Race Equality Thinktank and the British Sociological Association (BSA). Jason sits on the Centre for Labour and Social Studies (CLASS) National Advisory Panel, the NHS Race and Health Observatory Academic Reference Group and the ITV Cultural Advisory Council. Professor Arday’s research focuses on the areas of race and higher education, intersectionality and education, mental health and education, neurodiversity and cultural studies.

Biography: Dr. Chantelle Lewis (she/her) is the Andrew Pitt Junior Research Fellow in Black British Studies at Pembroke College, University of Oxford. She is a public sociologist, and Black feminist intellectual whose research is situated at the intersections of race and class; gender studies, social theory, queer theory, politics and family studies.

In the broadest sense, Dr. Lewis’ intellectual project is interdisciplinary, but primarily focused on collaborative scholarship and dialogical knowledge production; as well as the democratisation of generative modes of understanding and navigating education. As a neurodivergent scholar, Dr. Lewis is passionate about inclusive education and creative scholarship produced beyond the written word.

She is co-founder, co-host and executive producer of the Radio Academy award nominated podcast Surviving Society Productions, leading the curation and production of more than 300 episodes; featuring leading academics, activists and community organisers from across the world. With a listenership concentrated across Europe, Africa and North America primarily, Surviving Society has become a staple of social sciences and humanities reading lists both in UKHE and internationally.

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