Week 7: Link and Reflection

I decided, in light of the many posts about Freud this week, to focus my reflection on the conference at Clark University in 1909. As we learned in the video, this was Freud's one and only visit to the states, at the request of G. Stanley Hall. Apparently Freud was appalled at the 20th celebration of Clark University, as the university in Leipzig was over 500 years old at the time. I am really interested as to how receptive the audiences were, seeing as how Freud delivered his three lectures in German. Bill, do you have any additional information on this? It seems fitting that Freud would decide to do such a thing, what with his opinion of the US and all.

I would be really curious to read first hand accounts of the conference at Clark, as it brought together not only Freud, but also Carl Jung - outside of Europe, nonetheless. I decided to do a little investigative work about Clark and the historic conference that took place there in 1909. It's interesting to reflect on the idea that, while probably any student of psychology would known Freud and Jung's names automatically, their fame wasn't widely prevalent in the states before their visit. Clark, however, had gained international attention for housing the second graduate program to open in the country as well as general promotion of quality scholarship. Hall's focus of the conference was "Challenge Convention, Change our World," a motto which Clark University still embraces.

Clark will be celebrating the hundredth anniversary of the conference this year, emphasizing the role of psychology in a world that is undergoing rapid change. Presenters will reflect upon how the conference aided in developing the role of science to help sever national and cultural boundaries, as well as how Hall's "user-oriented" vision centered on the "unity of inquiry, learning, and teaching." Beyond this, the centennial conference will strive to understand how psychology has to change in the face of globalization (yet increasing localization), and how these large issues can be tied back to local communities, social justice and social progress. Field trip?

You can read about the Centenntial Conference to be held this year at Clark University here: http://www.clarku.edu/~psydept/centennial/index.cfm