Conference to Examine Violence in Global Society

 

By Susie Davidson

Advocate Correspondent

 

BOSTON - It can be difficult, if not impossible, to ascertain a sense of meaning within the chaotic state of current world affairs. This Saturday from 9 a.m.-5 p.m., at a conference entitled “Why Violence,” the Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis’ Institute for the Study of Violence will attempt to answer some of the grappling questions many of us are facing. The event, co-sponsored with the Department of Sociology at UMass, Boston, will take place at UMass’ Lipke Auditorium.

 

BGSP, located at 1581 Beacon St. in Brookline, will also celebrate its 30th year of awarding master’s and doctoral degrees in psychoanalysis that night at the Veronique Banquet Hall. The BGSP is the country’s first accredited degree-granting graduate school of psychoanalysis.

 

On Saturday, psychoanalysts, academics and activists will examine the concept of violence, from neurobiological, anthropological, sociological and psychoanalytic disciplines. Themes will include the causes of violence, its escalation, and its potential prevention. Speakers will include prominent activist and anthropologist Nancy Scheper-Hughes and psychoanalyst and aggression expert Dr. Phyllis Meadow. Also speaking will be neurobiologist Debra Niehoff and sociologist Charles Lemert.

 

“Violence at the individual, societal, and international levels is the most pressing issue of our time,” said BGSP’s Director of the Extension Division, psychoanalyst and conference publicist Claudia Luiz. “In order to intervene effectively at any level, it is important to recognize the sources of violence, and the dynamics which contribute to its escalation or de-escalation. This conference represents a beginning.

 

“As a Jew, I have learned to question, and to use my doubt to add meaning to my

life and to my spirituality,” she continued. “As a psychoanalyst, I use my learning to add depth to my quest for meaning.”

 

Luiz’ life has been a personal quest as well. Born in Italy while her parents were on Fullbright grants from Juilliard, she was not told of her Russian Jewish ancestry until the age of 12. “My mother's family migrated to Uruguay and Argentina during the war, whereas my father's moved to the U.S.,” she explained.

 

Upon learning of her origins, Luiz began attending a reconstuctionist synagogue in New York, where she was motivated to psychoanalyze the Torah. Following a move to Boston, she chose to attend Harvard Hillel and also worked at Ohabei Shalom, teaching children Jewish songs, stories and folklore. Luiz also leads workshops called The ARt of Meeting Someone New and maintains the Web site www.mydatingreality.com.

 

“When I became a psychoanalyst I was able to apply what I had learned to my

notions of being a Jew, and I bring those ideas to bear on my sense of what it is

to be a good Jew, a good member of my community, and a good wife and mother,” she said. “Since I did not know I was a Jew when I was a child, and since my work as a psychoanalyst has led me to believe that we often don't know about our own

destructive impulses until we go on a journey of self-discovery, being a Jew for me is about discovery.

 

“The April conference put together by BGSP is going to be incredible because it

is all about the violence in the world and how we, as human beings, can begin

to understand and put an end to it.”

 

 “This conference is in keeping with BGSP's tradition of dealing with real problems in the world,” said administrative assistant RD Mauzy. Students, who include corrections officers and businessmen and women, intern in the most seriously chronic wards of mental hospitals, treat the most highly disadvantaged, and work to alleviate real violence in schools. “The school is breaking the mold; it is the first accredited psychoanalytic school in the nation awarding the masters and doctoral degrees, including the interdisciplinary doctorate, in the study of violence,” said Mauzy.

 

The main speaker, Nancy Scheper-Hughes is not only an anthropologist who observes and reports on what she sees in other cultures, but also serves as a "witness" trying to change the evils in the world, and bring attention to atrocities that people are not aware they can put an end to,” said Luiz. Scheper-Hughes. An expert on “invisible violence,” Scheper-Hughes has become involved in the societies she has found to practice "atrocities" such as organ trafficing, schizophrenia in men, etc. “She has the courage to reveal all kinds of social violence and not be silenced - which, of course, is what happened in Nazi Germany and is still happening all over today,” said Luiz.

 

“Jews in particular should attend this workshop to learn more about what they can do in their own communities to put an end to the "invisible" acts of violence that are around us.”

 

The public is invited to attend Saturday’s conference. Admission, including lunch, is $80 general admission and $50 students. For more information, call 617-277-3915, email bgsp@bgsp.edu, or visit www.bgsp.edu.