Keynote Speaker



Brij Mohan, M.S.W.;  Ph.D.; D. Litt. (hon); IABMCP Diplomate

Dean Emeritus, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, U.S.A.

"Totalizing Human Psyche: Banality of Madness and Poverty of Culture"

Brij Mohan is an internationally recognized scholar and author, most recently, of Development, Poverty of Culture and Social Policy (2011); Fallacies of Development: Crises of Human and Social Development (2007), Reinventing Social Work: The Metaphysics of Social Practice (2005), The Practice of Hope (2003), Social Work Revisited (2002), Unification of Social Work (1999) and Eclipse of Freedom (1993). His publications include 16 published and 3 books in process as well as over 300 research papers, articles, chapters and reviews.

Dr. Mohan’s academic interests include mental health, philosophy of science, social theory, policy, international and comparative social welfare. He is founding Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Comparative Social Welfare (earlier published as New Global Development: Journal of International and Comparative Social Welfare). Recently, the Mahatma Gandhi Kashi University, Varanasi, honored him with an honorary degree of Doctor of Letters (D.Litt.) for his outstanding achievements.

Brij Mohan has been called “the Habermas of Social Work Theory”. Recently NASW-LA Ch. awarded him a special Presidential Life Time Achievement Award which has been given once prior to his recognition. His forthcoming books include: Brij Mohan by Himself: An Omnibus; Truth Matters: Autobiography of an American Dean; and The Death of an Elephant (a novella).


"Totalizing Human Psyche: Banality of Madness and Poverty of Culture"
 
Abstract:
This keynote address focused on the banality of madness sheds light on the human condition and its totalization of the human psyche. It posits theory of Poverty of Culture within a discursive framework that lays emphasis on demystification of general conceptual-professional dissonance. Varied manifestations of human-social reality that warrant transformative interpretations are analyzed with a hope toward achieving an ethical society without the dualism of a dysfunctional culture and its contradictions. A new social atavism is seemingly upon us. The author takes a humanistic, anti-Oedipal stance to critique puzzling paradoxes of a schizophrenic society. Basic assumptions underlying these formulations - a) totalization (for human dignity, social justice and universal equality); b) unification (of knowledge, science and practice); and c) demythization (of positivist utopian delusions) - seek to de-Odepalize human psyche and the challenges that contemporary scientists and intellectuals confront in actualizing substantive civil transformations.