FW: GBatesonIII

From: Judy (jdiamondstone@clarku.edu)
Date: Tue Jan 06 2004 - 13:39:35 PST


-----Original Message-----
From: Mary Catherine Bateson [mailto:mcatb@attglobal.net]
Sent: Tuesday, January 06, 2004 12:41 PM
To: batesoma@gse.harvard.edu
Subject: GBatesonIII

Gregory Bateson was born in 1904, so next year is his centennial. I believe
that much of his work was misunderstood or unappreciated during his
lifetime because it challenged people to think in new ways and defied
disciplinary compartments. I am writing now to urge all of you to take
advantage of his centennial in the coming year in whatever way fits your
knowledge and interests so that the people you work with have the
opportunity to look again at Bateson’s writings in the new century. If you
go back to his writings (several now going into new editions), you will
find that some of it is still very challenging, some of it seems out of
date, and much of it was prescient and is more accessible than it was at
the time of his death twenty years ago. I will help if I can, but beyond
this notification it really depends on the initiatives of others.

I have made up a “quick and dirty” list for purposes of this mailing,
consisting of people who have sent me emails related to Bateson over the
last five years or so. Even that is not complete, as large chunks of
correspondence have been lost, and I expect to get a lot of “bounce-backs”
on obsolete email addresses. If this feels like spam to you, ignore
it. YOUR NAME WILL BE DROPPED IF I DO NOT HEAR FROM YOU THIS MONTH. But
if you would like to be in touch on Bateson-related issues, please reply to
this email giving “GBateson list” as your subject.

Several events are being planned and I am being asked to suggest names. So
please take a minute to say who you are and what your interest is in
Bateson’s work — Ecology? Visual anthropology? Cybernetics of international
relations? Family therapy? Other? And please don’t have hurt feelings
about this request — of course I know most of you (though not all) — but a
couple of summary sentences will make my life much easier. Gregory
Bateson’s literary estate is administered by the Institute for
Intercultural Studies in New York, which has a Newsletter. If you would
like to be on that mailing list, please use the subject: “GBateson and IIS”
and give a snail mail address. You may also receive mail about events in
your region. The Institute also maintains a website with a growing Bateson
section and some relevant links. You can visit the website at
<www.interculturalstudies.org>. The Bateson section is still in
preliminary form, but eventually it will tell you about new editions of
GB’s work, material available on line, and so on, and we will keep adding
material.

Lastly, please feel free to forward this email to colleagues or
organizations that might like to know about it or to send their names along
— as I said, this is a “quick and dirty” list and a lot of people are
missing. Anyone who is planning an event or a publication and would like
to get the word out, PLEASE LET US KNOW.

And a happy new year and best wishes to you all. Catherine Bateson



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