College of Psychology and Humanistic Studies

Dr. Jürgen Kremer and Saybrook doctoral candidate Robert Jackson-Paton develop textbook on ethnoautobiography

This past fall, Saybrook's Jürgen Kremer and Robert Jackson-Paton developed and piloted a textbook for use at Sonoma State University (SSU), based on their work in ethnoautobiography . The book contains a glossary, practical activities, and case studies to help students understand ethnoautobiography and use it as an effective research tool.

Following the success of the pilot version, the book will be submitted for publication next summer and used in additional upcoming courses - both at SSU and the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS). The book is titled

Stories of Decolonization, Autobiography, Ethnicity: Unlearning Whiteness and Reclaiming Participatory Senses of Place and Society - An Ethnoautobiographical Workbook

Expanding on a manuscript that was published by Prof. Kremer in 2003, the book considers ethnoautobiography to be a practice of radical presence. A helpful glossary is included, describing central terms used in this book. Rather than call it a glossary, however, Kremer and Jackson-Paton prefer the term “conversation pieces” because these are “reflections intended to stimulate conversation” rather than inflexible and finalized definitions.

Occupy Everything

by Glen T. Martin, with comments by Saybrook professor Dr. Marc Pilisuk

The Occupy Wall Street movement has spread around the world. It has not only spread rapidly to cities and universities all around the US, there have been Occupy demonstrations and movements in Toronto, Athens, Sydney, Amsterdam, Stuttgart, Tel Aviv, Milan, and elsewhere. With the bailouts and immunities from responsibility of the big banks worldwide, with huge military budgets draining most nations of the world, and with debt restructuring being forced on nations around the world by a global economic system that transcends all nations, people everywhere are becoming directly aware of the domination of the world-system by the 1% at the expense of the 99%.

In these protests, unemployed persons join with discharged veterans, heavily indebted students, and politically aware citizens to occupy public places in protest of this global system of domination and exploitation. Police, like the politicians and governments they serve, have been colonized to do the bidding of the 1%, as is so painfully clear from the systematic violence and brutality they have shown in the repression of unarmed and peaceful citizens within the Occupy movement.

If the new sense of solidarity and political awareness of the Occupy movement are to have a real effect on this global system, it will have to become a planetary political awareness and bind itself in solidarity with all of humanity. Half the world’s population lives on less than two US dollars per day. One sixth the world’s people lack access to clean water. One third lack basic sanitation. Worldwide, the richest 1% have as much wealth as the bottom 60% combined. These figures are not new, but they are all getting worse. Global poverty is growing. Global water scarcity is growing. The richest 1% are getting rapidly richer relative to the bottom 99% who are getting rapidly poorer. We need to occupy everything.

Saybrook Professor George Kent publishes 2 new books

 

Saybrook Professor George Kent - who teaches STR 6585 "The Human Right to Adequate Food" - has published Ending Hunger Worldwide, a book that challenges the naïve notion that everyone wants hunger to end. Rather, hunger ensures that some people will work for very low pay, so employers make good profits and consumers enjoy cheap goods. Hunger analysts typically focus on agriculture yields and interventions with capsules and supplements. They rarely acknowledge that hunger is a deeply social issue that is shaped by the ways in which people treat each other. The central concept that drives the book is that in strong communities, people don’t go hungry. Strong communities have high levels of concern about one another’s well-being. People may provide food to one another when that is necessary, but more fundamentally, they ensure that all have decent opportunities to provide for themselves.There is no shortage of food in the world; there is a shortage of opportunities.

Kent's other recent publication, Regulating Infant Formula, assesses the widespread assumption that the government or some international agency is monitoring the quality of infant formula. Government agencies sometimes raise alarms when a batch of formula is seriously contaminated, but they are not monitoring the product to ensure the health of children. More than half the infant formula used in the U.S. is provided by the government, at no cost to the families. The government monitors the economic impact on the manufacturers, but not the impact on the health of children. It has been estimated that more than 900 children in the U.S. die each year because they have been fed with infant formula.

Professor Kent was invited last year by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations to speak on Ending on Hunger Worldwide for its Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition. The report from this event is available as a pdf for download.

Videos of Peace Movements Worldwide event now online!

On October 30th, AHIMSA and The Metta Center for Nonviolence Education presented a free public forum, entitled: Taking stock of peace: Inspiration from Peace Movements Worldwide.

This special event launched the recent publication of Peace Movements Worldwide, a three-volume anthology with chapters covering insights and action from every continent with accounts of courageous and creative actions, ranging from the personal to the global.

Saybrook professor Marc Pilisuk co-edited the volume and speakers included members of the Saybrook community: Donald Rothberg, Melissa Anderson-Hinn, Angel Ryono, Gianina Pellegrini, and moderator Bob Flax.

The event was recorded by Wolfgang Saumweber and made available free online, in 5 parts.

 

 

 

Professor Emeritus John Adams continues his work



John Adams, Ph.D., Emeritus Professor of Organizational Systems at Saybrook University is spending his retirement from active teaching doing service work in two places.

 

John is Administrative Director for the Prevention International: No Cervical Cancer (PINCC) India program. Cervical Cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths in women in less resourced countries (27% of global deaths are in India), and it is a completely preventable disease.

 

John, and his wife Rhoda Nussbaum, M.D., have to date screened over 3000 women using easily taught procedures, trained over 15 Indian gynecologists to do this work locally, and certified two village oriented clinics to continue the work. They are currently focused on scaling up the project to form a "Center of Excellence for Cancer Prevention in Women" that will train local health care workers and establish universal cervical cancer screening in Mysore, India.

On the home front, John is part of a small network of educators teaching the Sierra Mother Lode population about building and preserving individual, family, and community resilience. Once a "critical mass" of families and individuals have decided about their own preparations, the focus will shift to generating a number of cooperative / collaborative community level projects for enhanced and secure local living in the Sierra foothills.

Professor Eugene Taylor named fellow to two APA divisions

Eugene Taylor, Professor in the College of Psychology and Humanistic Studies at Saybrook University, has been elected a Fellow in Division 24, the Society for Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, and Division 32, the Society for Humanistic Psychology in the American Psychological Association.

Professor Taylor is already a Fellow in Division 1, The Society for General Psychology, and Division 26, The Society of the History of Psychology.

Wilson Williams named to Board of Directors for the Museum of Women in the Arts

Willson Williams, a member of Saybrook's psychology faculty, has been appointed to the Board of Directors of the New Mexico Committee of the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, DC.

The National Museum of Women in the Arts brings recognition to the achievements of women artists of all periods and nationalities by exhibiting, preserving, acquiring, and researching art by women and by teaching the public about their accomplishments. To fulfill its mission, the museum cares for and displays a permanent collection, presents special exhibitions, conducts education programs, maintains a Library and Research Center, publishes a quarterly magazine and books on women artists, and supports a network of state and international committees. NMWA also serves as a center for the performing and literary arts and other creative disciplines.

The New Mexico Committee of the National Museum of Women in the Arts is involved in statewide and national art exhibitions, achievement awards, educational programs, sponsorship and lectures, and special events.

Louis Hoffman named President-Elect of the Society for Humanistic Psychology

Dr. Louis Hoffman, a member of Saybrook University's psychology faculty, has been named President-Elect of the Society for Humanistic Psychology. 

He began the role in August of this year, and will become President of the society in August, 2012. 

Hoffman will replace current SHP president David Elkins.  Both Hoffman and Elkins are members of The New Existentialists, a new movement in existential-humanistic psychology that emerged out of the work of faculty and alumni of Saybrook's Graduate College of Psychology and Humanistic Studies.

"It's an honor," said Hoffman, "particularly at this time that many are describing as a renaissance in humanistic psychology and current president David Elkins described as the most excitement in humanistic psychology since the 1970s. Having served on the board for several years, I am quite aware of the talented leaders and scholars that are involved helping attain this resurgence. I hope that we can continue to build upon what we have accomplished, such as drawing in a large base of extraordinarily talented students and early career psychologists to become involved with the society, and creating a very successful annual conference. In particular, I hope we can increase the diversity in the division, including taking a critical examination of what it means for the division to embrace and value diversity. This, I believe, is necessary for us to continue to grow and stay relevant in an increasingly diverse and international society."

 

Louis Hoffman to present at Caribbean psychology conference

Saybrook faculty member Louis Hoffman, a member of “The New Existentialists,” will be presenting two papers at the 2011 Carribean Regional Conference of Psychology.

The conference has the theme of "Psychological Science & Well-Being: Building Bridges for Tomorrow," and will be held from November 16-18 in Nassau, Bahamas.

Dr. Hoffman, who has recently been elected to the role President-Elect of the Society for Humanistic Psychology, will be presenting on:

1. Existential therapy in a Bahamian Context by Louis Hoffman & Heatherlyn Cleare-Hoffman
2. Bahamians in Cross Cultural Marriages: Implications for Marriage/Family Therapy by Heatherlyn Cleare-Hoffman & Louis Hoffman

Dr. Joel Federman writes about his trip to Egypt and meeting with democracy activists

Joel Federman warned us.

The director of Saybrook University’s programs in Social Transformation, Dr. Federman published an article in Common Dreams last month warning that the democracy movement in Egypt was not over – and that the military’s clearing of protestors from Tahrir Square long after the autocrats were supposed to be out of power was an indication of the struggle to come.

“The world should be watching Tahrir Square,” he warned, after returning from a trip to Egypt where he spoke with democracy activists and civic leaders. 

Since then the question of what the Egyptian military’s intentions are … and whether the democracy movement can continue … has only grown, with allegations that the military government is trying to quietly cover up the crimes of the Mubarak regime and hold itself above accountability.