27 Aug Words to Ponder #47
I think about how exhausting the indicative becomes - the constant demand to perform progress, to show we're winning, to prove harm is decreasing. Bayo Akomolafe...
Politics
12 May In Conversation with Bayo Akolomafe
Posted at 03:13h
in Creativity, Culture, Human Development, Language, Politics, Psychology of Becoming 2 Comments
During the second half of 2022, Bayo Akomolafe and I had a series of recorded Zoom conversations, with my Institute colleague Janet Wootten spurring us on, Bayo and I both wanted to make these conversations public. and you can find slightly edited transcripts of them here, titled A Meandering Search for Method: Becoming Human in a...
24 Dec Bottoms, Empathy and Globalization
It’s become a tradition for faculty member Chris Helm to host the East Side Institute’s twice yearly Community Meeting and Fundraiser. Chris always gets everyone thinking with her educational and provocatively inspiring remarks that weave together current events, history, politics, science, and the Institute’s mission. This past November’s gathering was no...
18 Jan Revisiting “Fred Newman and the Practice of Method”
Posted at 19:30h
in Culture, Human Development, Philosophy, Politics, Postmodern Marxism, Psychology of Becoming, Social Therapeutics 2 Comments
That's the title of an invited address I gave in 2011 at the Third International Academic Conference on Contemporary Capitalism Studies in Hangzhou China, just three months after Fred Newman passed away. Today, my colleagues and I are in the early stages of designing some kind of video documentary of...
22 Jan Words to Ponder #36
These words, written twenty years ago by renowned social constructionist Ken Gergen, are surely worth pondering today. "In important degree, identity politics is a descendent of Western, individualist ideology. It is not the single individual who commands our interest in this case; rather individual identity is conflated with group identity. Individual...
29 Dec The End of Knowing as Critical Praxis (Practical-Critical Activity)
Posted at 23:25h
in Activity Theory, Critical psychiatry, Culture, Human Development, Philosophy, Politics, Psychology, Psychology of Becoming, Social Therapeutics 0 Comments
When I have an academic presentation to make or an article to write on social therapeutic methodology, it's usually an opportunity to play around with conceptions I've spoken and written about many times before. I like the challenge of creating new frames ("What do I want to say to this...
26 Dec Brains and Politics
Posted at 23:04h
in Culture, Events, Interviews, Overweight Brain, Philosophy, Politics, Psychology of Becoming 0 Comments
On Sunday, December 8th, I had the pleasure of speaking with 75 people from 17 states in the US. They called in to the monthly Politics for the People conversation hosted by Cathy Stewart, VP for National Development at indepependentvoting.org. It was a privilege to be Cathy's guest, to discuss...
13 Feb Getting the Conversation Going
On Sunday, February 24, I’m hosting a live video interview—Can Conversation Cure? Developing the Practice of Talk Therapy. My guests are Tom Strong, a psychologist and counselor-educator at the University of Calgary, and Murray Dabby, an Atlanta-based social worker, therapist, trainer and relationshipcoach. It will take place 12 noon-1:30 p.m. Eastern U.S....
12 Jul Jackie Salit on Small Pleasures
I'm privileged to have Jackie Salit as a friend and mentor. Here is her most recent essay (Pipat's Letter) lamenting the loss —and embracing the joy—of small pleasures as she witnesses, like all of us, some world events. Yesterday morning, all the boys — the Wild Boars – were rescued. At...
15 May
Posted at 19:35h
in Activity Theory, Community Organizing, Creativity, Culture, Education, Human Development, Learning Environments, Performance Movement, Philosophy, Politics, Postmodern Marxism, Psychology, Psychotherapy, Social Therapeutics, Training/Classes 0 Comments
With deepening social and political crises worldwide, many who want to make a difference find that they need more. They search for new tools, methods, conceptions and approaches to move forward. Since 2004, the Institute’s flagship program, The International Class, has attracted over 100 passionate and creative scholars, researchers, clinicians and...