Friday 19 June 2015

Edge of the Wild: The 4th UK Ecopsychology Gathering, 2 – 5 July 2015, Green & Away, Worcestershire, UK



2 – 5 July 2015, Green & Away, Worcestershire, UK

The Edge of the Wild is an annual gathering of people with a passion for ecopsychology.  Ecopsychology is concerned with the emotional, psychological, political and spiritual interrelationship between humans and the more-than-human world. Bringing together a rich diversity of perspectives from across the ecopsychology movement in a setting of natural beauty, the gathering seeks to promote and support a more respectful and harmonious connection with the other-than-human.
Location: Green & Away, Worcestershire, UK

Wednesday 17 June 2015

In Time For Tomorrow, Rosemary Randall and Andy Brown, July 7th and 10th


Talks and workshops by Rosemary Randall and Andy Brown at
Taunton Library meeting room, Paul Street, Taunton, TA1 3XZ on Thursday 2 July, 8pm, and
The Bristol Folk House, 40a Park St. Bristol BS1 5JGV on Friday 10th July 6.30 – 8.00 pm.

Rosemary Randall is an outstanding figure in the field of climate change and with Andy Brown founded the nationally recognised Carbon Conversations project.  Between them they offer a wealth of knowledge about the environmental impacts of all aspects of our lives.  As a psychotherapist Rosemary has a unique understanding of the profound human challenge in facing these impacts, complemented by Andy’s extensive technical knowledge about the practical dilemmas.
In Time for Tomorrow?  the Carbon Conversations Handbook by Rosemary Randall and Andy Brown is published by The Surefoot Effect (www.surefoot-effect.com   ISBN 978-0-9931211-0-4).  It has been acclaimed by both Naomi Klein (‘This Changes Everything’) and George Marshall (Founder of Climate Outreach & Information Network).
Rosemary and Andy will be available to sign copies of the book afterwards.

The Second Breath: New thinking on climate change, Friday 19 June 2015, 3pm – 6.30pm, Preston

The Second Breath:

New thinking on climate change




FRIDAY 19 JUNE 2015, 3-6:30pm, Preston, UK


Imove has teamed up with UCLan to present a special seminar event on Friday 19 June 2015, 3pm – 6.30pm, at The Media Factory in Preston.

This seminar will bring together art, Social Dreaming and debate on the subject of attitudes to climate change. The film The Second Breath will be shown followed by a series of related live performances on the subject of global warming. This will be followed by a Social Dreaming Matrix hosted by Julian Manley to explore the social dreams and associations that the audience want to share in the particular context of art, participation and issues of climate change. Finally, we will hold a debate on the subject facilitated by Paul Hoggett of the Climate Psychology Alliance (CPA).


Places at the seminar are free but very limited so you must book in advance through EventBrite.

Download the event flyer:

The Second Breath film has been made possible through lottery funds from Arts Council England. The seminar is supported by funding from the Gordon Lawrence Foundation.

Friday 12 June 2015

The Refrain and the Brain: Repetition, emergence, and nonlinear dynamics in neuroscience, psychoanalysis, and ecology. Neuropsychoanalysis Congress, Amsterdam, 9-12 July 2015

I will be presenting a paper at the 16th International Neuropsychoanalysis Congress, Plasticity and Repetition, Amsterdam, 9-12 July 2015 

The Refrain and the Brain: 
Repetition, emergence, and nonlinear dynamics in neuroscience, psychoanalysis, and ecology

Dr Joseph Dodds, PhD



The theory of the ‘refrain’ (ritournelle) is an important part of Deleuze and Guattari’s (2003) psycho-philosophical project, and provides a crucial conceptual approach to dealing with themes of repetition and plasticity. When connected with the mathematical approaches of nonlinear dynamical systems theory, the refrain provides a crucial way to explore dynamics of various systems, from the brain’s neural dynamics of perception, emotion, consciousness and the self; to the repetitions, spirals, and sudden shifts of the clinical psychoanalytic encounter over time scales from milliseconds to decades, from to the calls of songbirds and social collectivities, to the wider dynamics of social and ecological systems. The refrain creates, and marks a ‘territory’ in whichever register it is emerging from the flux of chaos, establishes links, including both ‘rhythm’ (horizontal) and ‘melody’ (vertical). The paper seeks to advance the project of ecopsychoanalysis began with the authors book Psychoanalysis and Ecology at the Edge of Chaos, (Dodds 2011) and seeks a mutually beneficial encounter between this important aspect of Deleuzo-Guattarian thought with modern neuropsychoanalysis and mathematics.

Did a Beetle Dream He was Kafka? An Ecopsychoanalytic Approach to Animality and (In)humanity in Kafka's World, 32nd International Conference on Psychology and the Arts, Malta, June 24-28, 2015.

I will be presenting at the 32nd International Conference on Psychology and the Arts in Malta, June 24-28, 2015. 


'Did a Beetle Dream He was Kafka? An Ecopsychoanalytic Approach to Animality and (In)humanity in Kafka's World' 

Dr Joseph Dodds, PhD





This paper will explore Kafka's use of animality from an ecopsychoanalytic perspective (Dodds 2011), combining, psychoanalytic, philosophical, eco(psycho)logical and Deleuze-Guattarian modes of thought.  What is an animal? The answer needs to be explored in each of the three ecologies, natural, social and psychological. The animal has long been a symbol of human psyche and culture. Kafka's use of the animal throughout his life and work is fascinating and intense, whether the becoming-beetle of Gregor Samsa in The Metamorphosis, the paranoid mole in The Burrow, the mice he feared were scratching under his bed, discourses of the Jew as rat in anti-semitism. These animals can be placed within Guattari’s ‘three ecologies’ of mind, society, and nature, seen as in constant, complex nonlinear interaction with one another. Through Kafka, answering the question, 'what is an animal?', we also come to know ourselves better, as the human-animals that therefore we are (Derrida 2007.)

http://conf.psyartjournal.com/2015/

Sunday 29 March 2015

Psychotherapy in a Time of Global Warming, Judith Anderson, Climate Psychology Alliance

"To be a psychologically aware human being in society today means embracing the web of life and to know that with every breath we take we are dependent on the living system of our environment. It is no longer possible to separate psychology from ecology – or indeed from science. Systems theory scientists have made the links. Can psychotherapists?"  Judith Anderson: Psychotherapy in a Time of Global Warming, Climate Psychology Alliance


Monday 23 March 2015

Psychoanalysis and Politics Conference in Barclona, March 2015

Thank you to everyone I met at the conference. It was really enjoyable and rich.


Ecopsychoanalysis in the United States this Spring: Chicago, Houston, Atlanta, New York

I will be presenting on the theme of 'Feeling the Heat...What is Ecopsychoanalysis? Psychoanalysis and Climate Change in the Three Ecologies' at several places in the United States this Spring. All those who are interested to hear more about my work and book and would like a chance to connect and discuss are welcome.

April 10th, Chicago. April 11th, Houston. April 13th, Atlanta. April 14th, New York


April 11th
Center for Psychoanalytic Studies, Houston, http://www.cfps-tx.org/news/drjosephdoddsvisitscfps


April 13th,
Emory University, Center for Mind, Brain, and Culture, Atlanta, http://cmbc.emory.edu/events/


April 14th,
State University of New York/Empire State College, New York, http://commons.esc.edu/kevinlwoo/science-colloquium/