What follows is a preliminary announcement for a 1997 conference that might
interest this community.
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SCIENTIFIC PSYCHOLOGY: CONVERSATIONS WITH OTHER VOICES
A two day conference on progress and possibilities in creating a cultural=
, relational, and performatory approach to understanding human life.
=0D
With each passing day, psychology's inability to provide solutions to cri=
tical questions history has raised as we approach the twenty first centur=
y becomes more apparent. Just about everyone--theoreticians, practitione=
rs, policy makers, consumers and the general public--is growing more and =
more disillusioned with psychology, as it fails to understand or deal suc=
cessfully with pressing issues, such as the nature of human sociality and=
anti-socialness, emotional pain, violence, identity, sexuality, prejudi=
ce and bigotry, creativity, depression, learning and educational failure,=
memories false and true, to name just a few. =
=0D
=46rom the postmodern vantage point, the current crisis in psychology and=
the related fields of psychotherapy and education is rooted in misguided=
efforts to emulate the natural sciences: Human-social phenomena simply =
cannot be understood with the tools and conceptions that are used to stud=
y nature. Subjecting psychology to postmodern deconstruction, contempor=
ary psychologists and philosophers find it to be a complex interweaving o=
f the modern science paradigm with centuries-old philosophical presupposi=
tions. Psychology's core conceptions--such as development, behavior, th=
e individual, the self, stages and patterns, rationality and irrationalit=
y, normality and abnormality--are themselves rooted in philosophical-scie=
ntific assumptions about what it means to understand and to know. The c=
hallenge to psychology is equally a challenge to the modernist conception=
of understanding and knowing and its commitment to deeply-rooted methodo=
logical-philosophical biases, such as truth, objectivity, causality, dual=
ity, and linearity. Understanding human life, some leading postmodern vo=
ices argue, demands a new epistemology. =
=0D
Creating a new epistemology--an unscientific psychology--is the activity =
of making new meaning. It is an emergent conversation created by and ou=
t of diverse voices who speak more poetically, culturally, and historical=
ly than analytically and taxonomically. It is a conversation about perso=
ns (not minds), about relationships and relationality (not environmental =
influences on self-contained indivuduals), about human activity (not beh=
avior), about narratives and stories (not Truth), about creating new form=
s of life (not adapting to forms of alienation). What is emerging is an=
approach to understanding human life as emergent, activistic, relational=
, and performatory. =
=0D
The invited presenters are leading voices in this conversation. The comb=
ination of rigor and creativity in their scholarship and practice is a pr=
ovocative challenge to orthodox psychology. Thus far, the following peo=
ple have been confirmed.
Kenneth Gergen is the Mustin Professor of Psychology at Swarthmore Colle=
ge in Swarthmore, PA. He is the author of three of the most influential =
postmodern discussions of the social sciences: Toward Transformation in =
Social Knowledge; The Saturated Self: Dilemmas of Identity in Contemporar=
y Life; and Realities and Relationships: Sounding in Social Construction.=
=
Mary Gergen is Associate Professor of Psychology and Women's Studies at =
Pennsylvania State University. Her scholarship concerns postmodern and f=
eminist theories. She is editor of Feminist Thought and the Structure of=
Knowledge; and co-editor (with Sara Davis) of the forthcoming Conversat=
ions at the Crossroads: Social Constructionism and the Psychology of Gen=
der.
Lois Holzman was on the faculty of Empire State College, State Universit=
y of New York for seventeen years. She is currently director of the Cent=
er for Developmental Learning and the Barbara Taylor School (a Vygotskian=
laboratory elementary school), both in New York City. She is author of =
Schooling for Development: Some Postmodern Possibilities (forthcoming), a=
nd co-author with Fred Newman of Lev Vygotsky: Revolutionary Scientist an=
d Unscientific Psychology: A Cultural-Performatory Approach to Understand=
ing Human Life.
John R. Morss is Senior Lecturer at the University of Otago in New Zeala=
nd. A leading critical developmental psychologist, he is the author of T=
he Biologising of Childhood: Developmental Psychology and the Darwinian =
Myth; and Growing Critical: Alternatives to Developmental Psychology. =
Fred Newman is a practicing psychotherapist, Artisitic Director of the C=
astillo Theater, and Director of Clinical Training at the East Side Insti=
tute for Short Term Psychotherapy in New York City where social therapy, =
the performatory therapeutic approach he founded, is practiced. His rec=
ent books include Let's Develop! and Performance of a Lifetime: A Practi=
cal-Philosophical Guide to a Joyous Life and, with Lois Holzman, Lev Vygo=
tsky: Revolutionary Scientist and Unscientific Psychology: A Cultural-Per=
formatory Approach to Understanding Human Life.
John Shotter is Professor of Communication at the University of New Hamp=
shire. His most recent books--Cultural Politics of Everyday Life: Social=
Constructionism, Rhetoric and Knowing of the Third Kind; and Conversati=
onal Realities: Studies in Social Constructionism--explore the dialogic r=
ealities of the lifeworld.
=0D
Participants. University faculty, graduate and undergraduate students; c=
linicians, social workers, educators, health and mental health workers. =
=0D
Dates: Saturday and Sunday, June 14-15, 1997
Place: Edith Macy Conference Center, Chappaqua, NY =
The conference is designed to be informal and in-depth, with ample oppor=
tunity for participants to explore issues with the presenters. The form=
at will be something like the following:
SATURDAY
Morning Session. Welcome, Introductions, Presentation: The Theme and Ta=
sk--Why Unscientific Psychology
Lunch
Afternoon Session. Workshops and/or Dialogues with Individual Presenter=
s
Dinner
Evening Session. Panel of Presenters
Party and Performance
SUNDAY
Breakfast
Morning Session. Workshops and/or Dialogues with Individual Presenters
Lunch
Afternoon Session. Discussion with All Presenters and Participants
Costs
Registration--$100 =
Double occupany accommodation for Saturday night, three meals Saturday, =
two meals Sunday--$200
=0D
Conference Expenses
Transportation for Invited Presenters $ 8,00=
0
Ground Transportation =
1,000
Accommodations for Invited Presenters 1,600
Honoraria for Invited Presenters 8 who-is-at $1500) 12,000
Conference Staff Accommodations 3,000
Conference Administrator (1/4 time July 96-June 97) 10,000 =
=
Other Conference Staff =
(in kind)
Video Recording and Transcribing 5,0=
00
Design, Printing and Mailing of Materials 4,000
Telephone/Fax =
1,500
Conference Party =
2,500
Miscellaneous =
1,000
Scholarships (25 who-is-at $200 each) 5=
,000
_______________________________________________________
=0D
TOTAL $ 54,600
=0D
Registration Income (130 who-is-at $100) 13,0=
00
___________________=
__________
Funds Needed $41,600
=0D
=0D
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