Professor Michael Orsini from the University of Ottawa in conversation with PPI Director, Professor Jennifer Curtin about researching emotions, autism and public policy. They discuss the messiness of policymaking, the importance of feelings, and why some emotions are seen as ‘good’ and other as ‘bad in relation to politicians, ‘dangerous offenders, What are the investments we make in managing emotions? How are emotions produced in a cultural context? How do they relate to gender and racial stereotypes? And what role does kindness play in politics and policy?
Michael Orsini is Professor in the Institute of Feminist and Gender Studies and the School of Political Studies at the University of Ottawa, and currently a Visiting Scholar in the School of Political Science and International Studies at the University of Queensland. He is currently completing a funded study on the role of emotions and stigma in a range of contested policy fields. Orsini is interested in critical approaches to policy and politics, and approaches that highlight the role of expertise and evidence mobilized by marginalized communities. He is co-editor, most recently, of Seeing Red: HIV/AIDS and Public Policy in Canada (University of Toronto Press, 2018), and Mobilizing Metaphor: Art, Culture and Disability Activism in Canada (UBC Press, 2016).
Professor Jennifer Curtin is the Director of the PPI and the Coordinator of our Master of Public Policy (MPP) programme. Jennifer teaches comparative public policy and runs an internship course for postgraduate students, working with the Auckland Policy Office, MBIE and Auckland Council, as well as with smaller policy consultancies and non-profit organisations.
Made with the assistance of Tim Page from the Faculty of Arts at the University of Auckland.
