Master of Arts in Psychology

11th Annual  
Psychology for the Other  Seminar 

Levinas and Social Justice: The Face in the Midst of the Global Ethics in Research, Psychotherapy, and Practice 

Seattle University 

November 15-17, 2013 

Save the Date: Abstracts Due June 17th

“The glory of the Infinite reveals itself through what it is capable of doing in the witness” (Levinas, 1985, p. 109) 

 

Over the past three years, we have organized the conference theme around bringing Levinas into dialogue with complementary lines of thought including psychoanalysis (’10), the philosophy of Martin Buber (’11), Levinas and how Feminist Theory Informs Our Encounter with the Other (’12).  This year we hope to take up questions related to the ethical encounter with the other in psychotherapy and research.  We are very pleased to have Prof. Leswin Laubscher, Ph.D., Associate Professor and Chair of the Duquesne University Psychology Department. Dr. Laubscher counts teaching, research, and clinical experience as a psychologist in both the United States and South Africa. Recent research interests and publications have examined the intersection of culture and psychology, and the importance of the philosophies of Jacques Derrida and Emmanuel Levinas for psychology. Dr. Laubscher is also one of the principal researchers in an expansive international study that seeks to archive and analyze memories of Apartheid experiences.

 Prof. Laubscher Publications:  Of Odysseus and Abraham: Nostalgia, Heimweë, and the Ways (of) Home;  Working with the apartheid Archive: Or, of witness and testimony; Apartheid, Testimony, Witnessing, Archives; Derrida, Making white lives:  Neglected meanings of whiteness from apartheid South Africa;  Facing the apartheid archive, or, of archons and researchers; Violence, re-membering, and healing: A textual reading of Drawings for Projection with William Kentridge; Climbing Mount Nebo, outlining ethnography; Color in the Interstice, or, what color this faculty of color; Toward a (de)constructive psychology of African American men; Afrikaner identity and the music of Johannes Kerkorrel; Apartheid, Hermeneutics, Kerkorrel, and Afrikaner identity; Editor, Suicide in a South African town: A Cultural-Psychological Investigation

 

 

Leswin Laubscher, Ph.D. (Northwestern University, Ph.D., Counseling Psychology, Northwestern University, 1995, M. Psych., Counseling and Clinical Psychology, University of the Western Cape, Ph.D., Counseling Psychology,  M. Psych., Counseling and Clinical Psychology, University of the Western Cape, B.A. Hons., Psychology, University of the Western Cape, B.A., Afrikaans, English, Psychology, University of the Western Cape.

 

Call For Papers

Levinas teaches us that we find the zenith of ethical relatedness and subjectivity in the face-to-face encounter.  How then can we extend ethics to our work in the social arena?  In recent years, there has been an upsurge of so called “third wave” (Atterton & Calarco, 2010) of Levinas scholarship which has been concerned with applying Levinas to sociopolitical issues in an increasingly fractured global world.  The question posed here is how can Levinas’ philosophy help us make sense of ethical relatedness at the level of concerns such as global warming, mass school shootings, terrorism, racism, and widespread social and political upheaval.  In particular, how can we as psychotherapists, psychologists, researchers, and ongoing students of the application of Levinasian Ethics take up mantle of justice beginning first with infinite Other before us?

We invite papers that seek in particular some form of interchange between Levinas and Psychotherapy, and/or research .  Abstracts no longer than 250 words should be submitted via Word Document to gkunz@seattleu.edu or lebeauc@seattleu.edu.  Deadline for submission is June 17th , 2013.  Notifications will be sent to presenters by July 22nd.  Submission should include the following:

  • Author(s) name(s)
  • Working Title
  • 250 word abstract
  • Institutional Affiliation
  • Contact information (including preferred phone number and e-mail address)

We strongly encourage authors to submit their complete papers by Oct. 28th to allow us to post them on our web site for others to read before Nov. 15th for better discussion. 

Also, please feel free to contact either Claire LeBeau (lebeauc@seattleu.edu) or George Kunz (gkunz@seattleu.edu) if you have any questions.   

We look forward to seeing you in November 2013

Sincerely,

 The 2013 Levinas Seminar Organizing Committee:  

George Kunz

Claire LeBeau

Brittany Bacon 

Amy Dunville 

Erica Freeman 

Lauren Guy 

Evonne Noble 

Trisha Swanson 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Resources