Landmark College Professor Cole Denisen Publishes Article in Psychology Journal

Landmark College Assistant Professor of Education Dr. Cole Denisen has recently published an article in the peer-reviewed journal New Ideas in Psychology. Denisen's article is titled "Speaking from the in-between: Neurotypical perspectivelessness, neurodivergent authority, and the politics of knowledge."

In an interview, Denisen described the topic of perspectivelessness as drawing from a long history of research that aims to understand how we know things. What does it mean to know, or to be an expert? The traditional view of this would emphasize the scientific method, Denisen explained. Scholars hypothesize, test, and re-test to achieve replication. 

But in the 1960s and 70s, Black feminist literature penned by authors including bell hooks and Audre Lorde began to shift perceptions of knowledge. While some fields, such as engineering or mathematics, lend themselves to the traditional scientific method, more subjective questions—such as asking what it is like to be a Black person in America—required a different approach to knowledge. 

"I'm a neurodiversity scholar—neurodiversity asks questions of 'what does it actually mean to be neurodivergent,'" Denisen said. "How do we study that in a way that moves beyond a statistic, and helps us to understand human beings more broadly, especially those who may have different perspectives than the general population," he continued.

Denisen began teaching at Landmark College in 2024, shortly after completing his Ph.D in Educational Policy & Leadership Studies at the University of Iowa. Learn more about his work on his academic website.