From: Esiesc-AT-aol.com Date: Tue, 29 Apr 1997 23:27:33 -0400 (EDT) Subject: Unscientific Psy. Conference FINAL ANNOUNCEMENT UNSCIENTIFIC PSYCHOLOGY: CONVERSATIONS WITH OTHER VOICES June 14-15, 1997 Edith Macy Conference Center Briarcliff Manor, New York Sponsored by the Center for Developmental Learning of the East Side Institute for Short Term Psychotherapy If social policy is to undergo a humanistic and democratic transformation, it is more important than ever that we examine the subjective constraints limiting our collective ability, not only to make these changes, but to move forward as a world--and,of course, the relationship between these and objective constraints. This gathering will address whether and how the new psychologies--which some call postmodern or post-scientific--can impact on the pressing political and social issues of the day. The invited presenters/facilitators--social, developmental and educational psychologists who have been seriously addressing the failure of mainstream psychology--are leading voices who engage issues of language and philosophy (methodology) in their psychological theorizing and practice. Seeing discursive, narrative, performative and performatory approaches to understanding human social life as a much-needed step away from positivist and pragmatically-driven mainstream psychology, some nevertheless have serious concerns about whether the modernist assumptions of self, identity, reality and truth are challenged thoroughly enough by such approaches and about what they see are serious costs that accompany such challenges. Do social, cultural, critical, constructionist, and/or activity-theoretic approaches have the potential to contribute, directly or indirectly, to qualitative social and political change? Invited Presenters and Facilitators Erica Burman is Senior Lecturer in developmental and educational psychology at the Manchester Metropolitan University in Manchester, England. Her recent works are Deconstructing Developmental Psychology and the forthcoming Deconstructing Feminist Psychology. She is also editor of Feminists and Psychological Practice and co-editor (with Ian Parker) of Discourse Analytic Research. Lenora Fulani is on the faculty of the East Side Institute's Center for Developmental Learning and a therapist at the East Side Center for Social Therapy. As developmental psychologist and political activist, she has been a key player in the movement for independent politics in the US. She introduces diverse audiences--from community activists to politicians to inner-city teens--to the postmodern challenge. She is editor of The Psychopathology of Everyday Racism and Sexism and a contributor to Erica Burman's forthcoming Deconstructing Feminist Psychology. Kenneth Gergen is the Mustin Professor of Psychology at Swarthmore College 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 Contemporary 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 feminist theories. She is editor of Feminist Thought and the Structure of Knowledge;and co-editor (with Sara Davis) of the forthcoming Conversations at the Crossroads: Social Constructionism and the Psychology of Gender. Lois Holzman was on the faculty of Empire State College, State University of New York for seventeen years. She is director of the Center for Developmental Learning in New York City. She is author of Schools for Growth: Radical Alternatives to Current Educational Models (forthcoming), and co-author with Fred Newman of Lev Vygotsky: Revolutionary Scientist and Unscientific Psychology: A Cultural-Performatory Approach to Understanding Human Life. John R. Morss is Senior Lecturer at the University of Otago in New Zealand. A leading critical developmental psychologist, he is the author of The Biologising of Childhood: Developmental Psychology and the Darwinian Myth; and Growing Critical: Alternatives to Developmental Psychology. Fred Newman is a practicing psychotherapist, Artistic Director of the Castillo Theatre, and Director of Training at the East Side Institute for Short Term Psychotherapy in New York City where social therapy, the performatory therapeutic approach he founded, is practiced. His recent books include Let's Develop! and Performance of a Lifetime: A Practical-Philosophical Guide to the Joyous Life and, with Lois Holzman, Lev Vygotsky: Revolutionary Scientist and Unscientific Psychology: A Cultural-Performatory Approach to Understanding Human Life. Ian Parker is Professor of Psychology in the Discourse Unit at Bolton Institute in England. He is author of The Crisis in Modern Social Psychology--and How to End It, co-author of Deconstructing Psychopathology, and co-editor of Deconstructing Social Psychology, Psychology and Society: Radical Theory and Practice, and Discourse Analytic Research. John Shotter is Professor of Communication at the University of New Hampshire. His most recent books--Cultural Politics of Everyday Life: Social Constructionism, Rhetoric and Knowing of the Third Kind; and Conversational Realities: Studies in Social Constructionism--explore the dialogic realities of the lifeworld. Creating a new approach to understanding human life--an unscientific psychology--is the activity of making new meaning. It is an emergent conversation created by and out of diverse voices who speak more poetically, culturally, and historically than analytically and taxonomically. It is a conversation about persons (not minds), about relationships and relationality (not environmental influences on self-contained individuals), about human activity (not behavior), about narratives and stories (not Truth), about creating new forms of life (not adapting to forms of alienation). What is developing is an approach to understanding human life as emergent, activistic, relational, and performatory. More a retreat than a formal conference, this two-day gathering will bring together researchers and practitioners for an experiment in creating conversation. We will work to build an environment in which we can create something out of the diversity of traditions, disciplines, and new ideas and practices that participants bring. Registration, limited to 150, includes colleagues from all over the US, Europe, Latin America, New Zealand, and Australia. There are still some spaces available, so if you want to add your voice to this conversation, you need to act soon. The Edith Macy Conference Center is located less than an hour from New York City in a beautiful country setting surrounded by hiking trails. There is an outdoor swimming pool on the premises. The meetings will begin at 9:00 am on Saturday, June 14 and end at 4:00 pm on Sunday, June 15. Fees. 2 days, Saturday night accommodations, 5 meals $315 2 days, no accommodations, 5 meals $245 Saturday only, no accommodations, 3 meals $150 Sunday only, no accommodations, 2 meals $125 Name: Address: City: State: Zip: Work # : Home # : Email: To register, please send information to: Mail: East Side Institute 500 Greenwich Street New York, New York 10013 Phone: (212) 941-8906 Fax: (212) 941-8340 email: esiesc-AT-aol.com On the Internet: www.castillo.org Credit Card No.: Exp. Date: Total Amount Enclosed:
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