Book of abstracts

“You make me think…a lot”: Some challenges of decolonizing psychiatric misrecognition in “peer therapy”

Prateeksha Sharma

The practice of reconstituting distress into diagnostic categories may be seen as the leveraging of epistemic privilege by a powerful social group capable of asserting its knowledge claims as “truth”. By divesting distress from its social moorings and claiming it to be “mental illness”, psy-professions can cause considerable harm to individuals and thus to human groups. These damages may be seen in at least two domains. First is the violence unleashed on individuals by reconfiguring their distress as “illness”, and secondly by imposing impersonal diagnostic pathological categories robbing them of their subjective truth(s).

In what manner can peers restore the damage done by such misrecognition? How can peer- knowledge support people wrest back their narratives from psychiatric conceptualizations? In this article I define some definitional aspects and possibilities of being in the role ofa “peer therapist” and explicate on the idea from my counseling practice. This professional label attempts at subverting both the peer role as it is currently employed by mainstream psychiatry wherein ‘ex/patients’ are employed in low paying jobs as adjuncts in psychiatry-led enterprises, and claiming the radical potential of peer-work by a reciprocal sharing of my experiential knowledge of “recovery” from “psychosis”.

My focus lies on decolonizing diagnosis from its “truth” claim, which is often a source of trauma and self- stigmatization among “patient” groups. This emancipatory project has a goal of fostering people’s epistemic existence, to help restore their sense of self, and, share among peers the myth of diagnostic neutrality. What will it take a psychiatrized individual to relinquish her belief in “patienthood”?

References

Roberts, M. (2005). The production of psychiatric subject: power, knowledge and Michel Foucault. Nursing Philosophy. 6, pp. 33–42  

Nandy, A. (2009). The Intimate enemy- Loss and recovery of self under colonialism. Delhi: Oxford University Press

They are (not) gone – Why it is necessary to recognize the dead in the (post) colonial re-reading of recognition theory

Gabriele Fischer and Nina Rabuza

Key words: recognition of death, grievability, remembrance, doing memory

Recent theories of recognition refer to living and acting subjects. They generally do not offer a perspective on the meaning of violent death. However, this was part of colonial submission and oppression policy. By denying burials, mourning and grieving, the colonial powers tried to desubjectivate the colonized subjects. In this paper, our aim is to widen the perspective of recognition theory on death by referring to Theodor W. Adorno and Judith Butler. Both are not postcolonial theorists but their work on the relation of death and society seems interesting to us in order to discuss recognition, death and grief within a postcolonial perspective. In the light of Adornos thought on the relation of death, society and subjectivation, we discuss how war commemoration in the First World War was used as a tool to deny or to grant recognition to colonized soldiers. With Butler notion of grievability, we analyze how the struggles for recognition of the Herero resistance aim to shift the frames of subjectivation.

Bibliographie:

Butler, Judith (2010): Gefährdetes Leben, betrauerbares Leben. In: Raster des  Krieges. Warum wir nicht jedes Leid beklagen. Frankfurt am Main/New York: Suhrkamp S. 9–38.

Fischer, Gabriele (2020): “Wir sind doch so ein friedliches Dorf”. Dynamiken der Entpolitisierung rechtsextremer Gewaltverbrechen am Beispiel eines Mordes in Baden-Württemberg 1992. In: IDZ und Salzborn, Samuel (Hg.):Rechtsterrorismus. Schriftenreihe Wissen schafft Demokratie. Jena.

Fischer, Gabriele (2018):  Verwerfungen der Betrauerbarkeit – Aushandlungen des Gedenkens. Dynamiken des Erinnerns an Opfer rechter Gewalt seit der Selbstenttarnung des NSU. In Dimbath, Oliver; Kinzler Anja; Meyer Katinka (Hrsg.): Vergangene Vertrautheit. Soziale Gedächtnisse des Ankommens, Aufnehmens und Abweisens, 75–92. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag.

Fischer-Lichte, Erika, und Getrud Lehnert (2000): Einleitung. Der Sonderforschungsbereich ‚Kulturen des Performativen. Paragrana. Internationale Zeitschrift für Historische Anthropologie 9 (2): 9–19.

Rosenthal, Gabriele (2010): Zur Interdependenz von kollektivem Gedächtnis und Erinnerungspraxis. Kultursoziologie aus biographietheoretischer Perspektive. In: Wohlrab-Sahr, Monika (Hrsg.): Kultursoziologie – Paradigmen, Methoden, Fragestellungen. Wiesbaden: VS-Verlag, 151-175. 

About deconstruction and development

Martina Ukowitz

Decolonisation, the core topic of the publication project, can be understood as a process of breaking up power relations, particularly those perceived as based on injustice and deriving from several forms of assault. The intention behind it is to enable free development. In this processes the focus and the engagement often concentrate on liberation, resp. on the deconstruction of the given. Another aspect comes into sight only at a second glace: Deconstructed …. and now?

The contribution wants to draw the attention to the development of recognition and to prerequisites for a constructive process towards recognition. Four aspects will be discussed: 1. Recognition as a mutual process basing on dialogue, 2. How to deal with value patterns and normativity, 3. Contradiction management (particularly between perpetuation and change), 4. System-transcending reflection (including limits).

The topic is relevant in various societal fields, on various societal scales, and the necessity to deal with it appears all over the world. At its core it’s about our image of mankind, about how we deal with differences in society and how we organize social life. This contribution considers the topic of sex, gender and sexual orientation, discussed under the acronym LGBTIQ, and focuses on a micro-level perspective. Against the background of the artistic research project “Mapping the Unseen” facilitating and hindering aspects in communication and mediation between different spheres are reflected.

The contribution can be part of the chapter “Practices of Recognition”, since it is based on the experiences in a participative, transdisciplinary project; it can be part of “Epistemics of Recognition”, too, since a procedural ethics approach will be outlined in the contribution.

Analyse des facteurs explicatifs du succès des promoteurs d’entreprises ayant “appris sur le tas” en Afrique de l’Ouest francophone: le cas du Burkina Faso.La nécessité de décoloniser les techniques relatives à la pratique entrepreneuriale 

Karim Kobre

Cet article s’intéresse aux pratiques entrepreneuriales dans les pays francophones d’Afrique de l’Ouest et notamment au Burkina Faso. Cette réflexion consiste à partager l’expérience d’une certaine catégorie d’entrepreneurs, qui sont la plupart analphabètes et illettrés avec des méthodes de reconnaissance émanant d’autres entrepreneurs issus de l’éducation formelle (ceux qui ont bénéficié d’enseignements en entrepreneuriat dans les écoles et universités). Cette catégorie de promoteurs d’entreprises analphabètes, illettrés et ayant « appris sur le tas », réussissent plus que ceux qui sont passés par l’éducation formelle (les écoles et universités).

Ils sont représentés par des hommes et femmes qui réussissent leurs projets d’entreprise à 80% contre seulement 10% chez les promoteurs ayant passés par l’éducation formelle (étudiants diplômés). Ils choisissent volontairement d’entreprendre tandis que les étudiants diplômés entreprennent lorsqu’ils n’ont pas d’autres possibilités d’emplois rémunérés.

C’est une analyse microéconomique des facteurs explicatifs du succès des projets d’entreprise des promoteurs ayant « appris sur le tas ». La mise en évidence de ces facteurs permettra de favoriser la montée inattendue du capital de reconnaissance de ces promoteurs négligés au départ. Ainsi, les pratiques de reconnaissance que possèdent ces promoteurs pourraient contribuer à rétablir des relations de pouvoir plus équilibrées dans la société.

Il y a là une montée inattendue du capital de reconnaissance de ces promoteurs négligés au départ, mais au finisse, réussissent leurs projets d’entreprise. Ainsi, les pratiques de reconnaissance que possèdent ces promoteurs pourraient contribuer à rétablir des relations de pouvoir plus équilibrées dans la société.

Under the conditions of digital technologies Intersubjectivity and recognition

Christina Schachtner

My research interests are twofold: intersubjective practices in the internet and attempts at subjectification in that context, both seen from a psychoanalytic perspective. This perspective is eminently suitable for tracking microprocesses in subjectification within the framework of the intersubjective dynamics of relationships. My theoretical approach draws on the intersubjective turn in psychoanalysis which conceptualizes intersubjectivity and recognition asprerequisites for subjectification. The empirical basis for this article is thematically structured interviews with 33 network actors (18 females and 15 males between the ages of 11 and 32). The interviewees came from six European countries (Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Slovenia, Ukraine), four Arab countries (Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen) and the USA. Following the principles of grounded theory as developed by Anselm Strauss and Barney Glaser, an interpretative-understanding approach to research was chosen which allows theoretical assumptions to be developed on the basis of the empirical data. The following communicative practices will be explored, including any associated experimental behaviour: practices of interconnectedness and contact management, practices of self-staging and desire, practices of aggression and, finally, practices of play. 

What psychoanalytic perspectives bring into focus within the framework of the intersubjective turn in lifeworlds beyond virtual space is also true for digitally mediated lifeworlds: being dependent on being looked at by others and endeavouring to attract such attention to oneself. Network actors are reliant on being looked at in order to give themselves cohesion and form, which means nothing more than constituting themselves as a subject (Bulian, 2009: 27). Subjectification or identity formation, as Altmeyer/Thomä pointed out, has become the main problem in our day and age (Altmeyer/Thomä, 2006: 25). People in modern society are increasingly asking themselves “who am I actually and what about the others?” (ibid.). The explosive nature of this question must have its roots in the socio-cultural shift which is putting intersubjectivity to the test, for example due to the erosion of traditional social networks. Human identity snaps or derails when intersubjective exchange is not possible on a continuous basis (Bulian, 2009: 27). In the end, the attractiveness of digital networks is also due to the fact that they present themselves as a promise of intersubjectivity and recognition. 

Literature

Lorenzer, A. (1981). Das Konzil der Buchhalter. Frankfurt / Main: European publishing house

Freud, S. (1919): Das Unheimliche. In: Freud, S. (Ed.). Psychologische Schriften. Bd. IV, Mitscherlich, S., Richards A & Stracey, J.. Frankfurt/Main: S. Fischer, 241 – 274

Turkle, Sh. (2012): “A Conversation with Sherry Turkle”, Interview with James Nolan,

The Hedgehog Review, Vol. 14, 1, http://www.iasc-culture.org/THR/THR_article_2012_Spring_Nolan.php.

All can have prizes? Recognition Systems in Education & Training

John West

Two contrasting systems of recognition exist in education and training.  The first is a system of demarcation by level.  This may be expressed in a number of different ways – by stage of education reached, by the degree of difficulty of subject matter, by grades awarded in examinations.  The second system is that demarcating by domain – by the topic (subject, type of skill etc) in which a person has attained a required degree of mastery. While these systems can overlap the emphasis is different for each.  The first relies on norm-referencing and promotes educational progression, while the second relies on criterion-referencing and aims to communicate specific abilities.  The tendency has been for general education to adopt the first system and vocational training the second though the distinctions are not absolute.  Efforts have been made in the UK over the past four decades to soften the exclusive features of each of these systems in the interests of extending opportunities for recognition to people who have not previously enjoyed them.  Efforts have also been made to blur the division between the two systems in order to promote ‘parity of esteem’.  These efforts have, though, not generally proved sustainable. All systems of recognition impose additional costs on education and training.  Wide-ranging attempts to extend or merge the systems run the risk of imposing costs without achieving benefits.  However basing reforms on existing trusted institutions might offer greater prospects of success.

Dancing The Differences – impact and recognition in body diversity

Lise King

Body Diversity

In the instruction and practice of movement-based skills that communicate and implement diversity and inclusion through the use of dance-inspired interaction, we learn how reading behavioral patterns in both marginalised and non-marginalised societies can impact on recognising cultural body language practices, and how this acknowledgement can empower an individual of any cultural and multi-cultural background.

Exploring the dance and movement we hold within the body, as opposed to mere verbal communication, we set free a universal language which is common to all societies and which is often forgotten as a relevant form for recognising our commonality, our individuality and our differences.

While outlining some of the history and stories experienced by those individuals with whom I have worked personally and who have been ostracised or marginalised by their societies, “Dancing our Differences“ looks at how embodying these experiences in a dance piece created with members of different groups, demonstrates that performing for the general public not only empowers the performer but also the onlooker.

The impact of re-living circumstances, such as fleeing war or suffering abuse, as can be practiced through immediate non-verbal communication via a dance workshop, not only helps process deep-rooted trauma in the sufferer of those experiences, but brings across to those who have not been confronted with such violence, direct and unadulterated recognition that invokes heartfelt empathy.

As the physical embodiment of the memories in the traumatised members of a group are released in the dance workshops week by week, and as the non-traumatised members assimilate the process, the deliverance of the re-enactment attains an authenticity and at the same time a distancing. Through repeating the process in the weekly dance workshops, the process can evolve to become a dance piece for live performance, transforming to an art form that not only empowers those performing, but also resonates on those who comprise the audience.

Balancing the power of recognition: how digital credentialing is bringing the individual back into the equation

James (Anthony) Keevy and Kelly Shiohira

recognition, power, digitalisation, data ownership 

Making learning more explicit to attribute the associated benefits of recognition to the individual, has been a project of humankind for many centuries. Underlying these periods are strong power shifts, notably from religious institutions, to nobility, to guilds, to providers of training, and even to employers at the turn of the 20th century. The increasing central role of government across these shifts is quite pronounced, while in more recent times, notably through international collaborations and more open approaches to learning, the powerful role of the learner as architect of the learning process, as opposed to the recipient, has only started to emerge (Keevy et al 2019). Digitalisation has accelerated this latest development, which is undoubtedly set to increase even more in a post-COVID-19 world (UIL 2020). In our contribution we explore how new forms of digital credentialing, linked to the notion of self-sovereign identity, and more broadly to the global collaboration towards more neutral reference levels can balance the power equation. We draw specifically on our work in Africa (Shiohira and Dale-Jones 2019; Dale-Jones and Keevy 2020) that focuses on digital interoperability, digital credentials (Keevy and Chakroun 2018), and the emergence of what may potentially be the first of a new fifth generation qualifications framework (Keevy et al 2020). Our discussion is framed by the early work of Foucault on power and legitimacy (Foucault 1972; Foucault 1982) that provides a lens to better understand the recognition of learning, and in our view, also new forms of digital recognition, as the exercise of power that to date, has left the individual vulnerable and exploited. We will argue that this balance of power is currently shifting towards the individual and if sustained, this will alter the technologies of recognition for the foreseeable future

Le potentiel créateur (de soi, des relations, du commun) et émancipateur de la reconnaissance réciproque

HEBER-SUFFRIN Claire

Réciprocité. Parité. Offre et demande. Formation réciproque. 

Le potentiel créateur (de soi, des relations et de la société) et émancipateur de la reconnaissance réciproque

Situer ma proposition dans votre ouvrage, en reprenant quelques extraits de vos textes (en italique)

« La lutte pour la reconnaissance ne peut trouver qu’une seule solution satisfaisante, et c’est un régime de reconnaissance réciproque entre égaux ». Ce n’est donc plus une lutte des uns contre les autres mais un effort partagé de changements de représentations, une attention partagée à reconsidérer et renommer l’autre, un choix politique et éthique d’une culture de la reconnaissance réciproque, une construction en commun d’espaces de reconnaissance réciproque et d’outils justes et cohérents, une formation commune et réciproque pour apprendre ces changements culturels, pédagogiques et organisationnels. 

Charles Taylor considère la reconnaissance réciproque comme un « besoin humain vital » et comme une ressource humaine vitale. C’est tout le rapport à la reconnaissance qui change alors. 

Le simple fait de reconnaître « l’autre comme autre » (Levinas) est le point de départ et la réalisation d’un acte émancipateur (réciproque), à condition que ce soit bien « fait », vécu, éprouvé, pensé… c’est-à-dire que ce soit non seulement une conviction, un choix, une relation mais aussi une pratique concrète qui vérifie » cette conviction annoncée, ce choix partagé, ces relations proposées et une conscience personnelle et partagée de la réciprocité vécue !

Vous posez la question : comment la réciprocité entre égaux pourrait-elle émerger ? Qui commence ? Comment les individus, les groupes et les communautés contribuent-ils à cette émergence, en particulier ceux qui ont initialement peu ou pas de capital de reconnaissance ? Comment construire des espaces de reconnaissance utopiques dans la pratique participative ? Je l’illustrerai par les pratiques des Réseaux d’échanges réciproques de savoirs® en disant ce que ces pratiques et leurs analyses peuvent apprendre sur les liens entre reconnaissance éprouvée réciproquement et réciprocité pratiquée concrètement et reconnue comme telle par les personnes concernées.

Un plan (j’ai commencé à rédiger et ce plan bougera certainement)

1.        Une introduction autour de la déstabilisation positive des termes « Décoloniser la reconnaissance ».

2.        Décoloniser ? Donc, coloniser, c’est quoi, quelles en sont les causes, les dimensions et les effets ? Appliqué à la reconnaissance ? Je partirai d’exemples concrets de colonisation de la reconnaissance, de reconnaissance qui, donc, à son tour colonise les personnes et les groupes humains (y compris les plus reconnus socialement, sous une autre forme, évidemment plus heureuse à vivre personnellement, que les non reconnus). Je proposerai quelques dimensions de cette colonisation (avec, en arrière-plan, le projet de les mettre en regard des dimensions et des effets de la réciprocité en termes d’émancipation individuelle et d’émancipation collective).

3.        En quoi cette façon d’entrer dans la question de la reconnaissance interroge nos conceptions de la reconnaissance, de ses dimensions, de ses pratiques réelles ? La reconnaissance : une relation, une présence, un mouvement, des situations de vie vécues ensemble, des projets communs dont elle est un des fondements à toutes les étapes du projet, une culture ? Avant même d’être une posture, une compétence, un ensemble de signes : condition pour qu’à leur tour les postures, les compétences professionnelles, les signes ne colonisent pas à leur tour les personnes et les groupes.

4.        La réciprocité ? Présentation rapide des Réseaux d’échanges réciproques de savoirs®. Les dimensions de la réciprocité qu’ils dévoilent (réciprocité des dons, réciprocité fondée sur et instauratrice de parité, dynamique pédagogique efficace, réciprocité des rôles, construction coopérative du système, conscience de réciprocité), ses dynamiques, ses formes et les signes de reconnaissance que fonde la réciprocité et qui la fonde. J’essaierai de répondre aux questions : qui commence ? Quelles situations ? Qui reconnaît qui et que reconnaît-on ? Comment le signifie-t-on ? Etc.

5.        En quoi la réciprocité annonce bien la nécessité de développer les relations de reconnaissance réciproque ?

Comment définit-elle et construit-elle la reconnaissance comme émancipatrice (y compris et, même, peut-être d’abord pour celles et ceux qui se considèrent surtout comme des « offreurs » de reconnaissance pour des personnes et groupes humains non reconnus socialement) ?

Comment permet-elle d’élaborer et vivre ensemble une culture de la reconnaissance ?

Mais aussi, en quoi la reconnaissance est-elle nécessaire (quelles dimensions quelles pratiques…) pour que la réciprocité (à la fois relationnelle, formatrice et générale – citoyenne – ne soit pas une nouvelle façade, une nouvelle colonisation ? Ne crée pas de nouvelles hiérarchisations (des savoirs par exemple) qui n’auraient d’autres effets que de donner bonne conscience aux « reconnaissants » ?

6.        Ne s’agit-il pas alors d’une sagesse ? D’une société de la reconnaissance ? je finirai sur les badges en utilisant une partie d’un texte déjà fait s’appuyant sur l’idée d’outils justes (Illich)

THE WORLD – A KALEIDOSCOPE – – – we see what we place inside An art project that promotes recognition.

Maria Alraune Hoppe

Key words: recognition in action, art-project, travelling installition

This is a report about the first presentation phase of my artistic and interactive project “THE WORLD – A KALEIDOSCOPE – – – we see what we place inside”. As well as outlining the preparation and basic philosophical underpinnings “behind” my project, it in addition reviews encounter with people of all ages who were willing to explore the three giant kaleidoscopes. Photos and video clips show interactive scenes and give an idea of the travelling art installation’s recognitional impact on public space and on user’s world view. The interactive art installation “travels” through the public space, equipped with three telescope-like kaleidoscopes with different mirror systems. By placing objects inside the giant kaleidoscopes and moving them around, unique and magical pictures of the world are created, which also reflect the immediate surroundings. The continuously changing images can be filmed with a mobile phone to take home as a keepsake of the experience. The recognition perspective of the ‘users’ is changing with each instant, each touching, each movement and eyelid flip. My report describes the importance of the interactive medium “travelling kaleidoscopes of insights and outlooks”. At the same time, it reflects on the tensions in personal encounters with others who, like me, are confronted with this surprising and unique structure and ready to try things out. Human and kaleidoscope enter in dialogue and reflect one another in a process that involves recognizing, marvelling, anticipating, waiting to discover, understanding and misunderstanding with unpredictable possibilities. More insights:

The Enabling Pedagogy of Recognition: From a Developmental Humanist Philosophy of Transformative Learning to Emancipation and Empowerment,  Case study of the Revisited French Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) device

Benedicte GENDRON

The French Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) system was introduced in France as part of the national framework for the recognition of training and designed for vocational education and training for adults and continuing education and then to higher education. In this chapter, we will focus upon the innovative developments in France of RPL uses as a developmental and transformative process and progress for adults serving sustainable human and social development, participating to the Economy of Recognition (Werquin et al., 2020). Through a benevolent perspective of collaborative learning (a collaborative building of competence-based portfolio via biographical narratives) and an enabling pedagogy of recognition rooted in a humanist philosophy focused on social and emotional learning, we highlight some of the key opportunities and challenges of this RPL : the emancipatory power of emotional capital (Gendron, 2004, 2018). The collaborative and enabling pedagogy helps learners to acquire and recognize their potentials and skills. Knowing themselves helps people to thrive in this context of global changes and shape their new jobs, their career pathways. It promotes their resilience and transformation and creative empowerment participating to their emancipation and their human sustainability development.

Other bodies of knowledge: Dance improvisation as embodied recognition practice for scientists

Susanne Martin

Keywords: dance improvisation, art in science, higher education, artistic research, lecture performance, sensorial and social recognition, embodiment, Erkennen/Anerkennen. art-based teaching and learning.

In this article I discuss a series of participatory lecture performances as one major outcome of my artistic research on dance improvisation in and for science and technology oriented higher education. These lecture performances aim to give different stakeholders in the science field an initial insight into dance improvisation and to facilitate discussion of its potential for the scientific learning, teaching and research culture. From the perspective of a dance artist and artistic researcher, I trace the details of how and why I created events for scientists to encounter dance improvisation through shared exploration and shared reflection. Interlacing descriptive and reflective writing, I unfold the argument that by engaging in improvisation as an embodied recognition practice, reflective processes can be set into motion, which critically question habituated forms of bodily, social and epistemological exclusions within academia.