Announcement: Ph.D. Alum Jessica Grogan to Speak at BookPeople
After a long and delightfully restful hiatus over winter break, AMS :: ATX is back in action! We're kicking off the semester with an announcement about Ph.D. alum Jessica Grogan, who will be speaking about and signing her new book, Encountering America: Humanistic Psychology, Sixties Culture, and the Shaping of the Modern Self, at Austin's own BookPeople (603 N. Lamar) on January 16 at 7pm. Copies of the book will be available for purchase at the event.Here are some more details about Grogan's book from BookPeople's announcement:
The expectation that our careers and personal lives should be expressions of our authentic selves, the belief that our relationships should be defined by openness and understanding, the idea that therapy can help us reach our fullest potential—these ideas have become so familiar that it's impossible to imagine our world without them.In Encountering America, cultural historian Jessica Grogan reveals how these ideas stormed the barricades of our culture through the humanistic psychology movement—the work of a handful of maverick psychologists who revolutionized American culture in the 1960s and '70s. Profiling thought leaders including Abraham Maslow, Rollo May, and Timothy Leary, Grogan draws on untapped primary sources to explore how these minds and the changing cultural atmosphere combined to create a widely influential movement. From the group of ideas that became known as New Age to perennial American anxieties about wellness, identity, and purpose, Grogan traces how humanistic psychology continues to define the way we understand ourselves.
Grogan is also blogging regularly at Psychology Today about the book and related topics.
Happy Holidays from AMS :: ATX!
The staff at AMS :: ATX would like to wish the happiest of holidays to all of you dear readers.
The snow falls on every wood and field, and no crevice is forgotten; by the river and the pond, on the hill and in the valley. Quadrupeds are confined to their coverts, and the birds sit upon their perches this peaceful hour. There is not so much sound as in fair weather, but silently and gradually every slope, and the gray walls and fences, and the polished ice, and the sere leaves, which were not buried before, are concealed, and the tracks of men and beasts are lost. With so little effort does nature reassert her rule and blot out the traces of men. - Thoreau, "A Winter Walk"
In the spirit of Thoreau, AMS :: ATX will be going silent for our winter break, but we'll be back in January with new content and features.
Announcement: Two Not-to-Miss Talks This Friday
Happy almost-end-of-semester! While we know all the students and faculty out there are probably up to their gills in paper writing and grading, we recommend taking a break from the madness this Friday, December 7, to attend one (or both!) of these great talks.
For more information on Christopher Newfield's talk, see here.
For further details on Avery Gordon's talk, see here.
Announcement: Film Series Continues with American Splendor
This month, the American Studies Film Series will host a free screening of Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini's 2003 film American Splendor.
Harvey Pekar (Paul Giamatti) is a comic book writer inspired by the work of his friend Robert Crumb (James Urbaniak). Pekar writes his comics about the sad monotony of everyday life, based on his own life in Cleveland, OH, working as a file clerk at a veteran's hospital and spending his time reading books and listening to jazz.American Splendor is a humorous look at everyday life and the ever-illusory American Dream. Join us as we briefly discuss and watch this entertaining film!