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Improvising Partnerships through Conversation: American Psychological Association Symposium
As concepts, improvisation and conversation are two border dwellers, belonging to no one academic discipline, but, rather, equally at home in communication, theatre and drama, performance studies, linguistics and what ever other intellectual pursuit decides to invite them in. As activities, improvisation and conversation are omnipresent, as much a part of our waking lives as breathing. To improvise and engage in conversation, one could easily argue, is what it means to be human. In light of this, some psychologists and psychotherapists (many of whom are themselves border dwellers to the psychological mainstream), think it unfortunate and ironic that psychology has, until recently, paid remarkably little attention to improvisation and conversation - either as concepts or as activities. It is clear that this situation is changing and that more and more psychologists
and psychotherapists have taken conversation (and, to a lesser degree,
improvisation) on board. It seems timely - at the end of a decade
of conferences, symposia and publications on conversation and the related
narrative, discourse, story and performance
The location from which we wish to approach this topic is at the borders, for perspectives that are not solidly within institutionalized psychology might offer us the opportunity to see things about psychology, conversation and improvisation that we haven’t seen before. The presenters will explore conversation from three different angles: the medical (therapeutic) interview; teaching in higher education; and the theatre. Rather than look at the role of conversation and improvisation in these professional activities, they will attempt to make a methodological shift and examine each of them as conversation. The presenter are: Sheila McNamee, Professor of Communication at the University of New Hampshire, who has written extensively on social constructionist theory and practice, particularly in the realms of therapy and organization development; Dan Friedman, dramaturg at the Castillo Theatre, theatre historian, playwright, director and actor, who writes and speaks about performance (in and out of the theatre) and its relationship to human growth and political change; and Tom Strong, Assistant Professor at the University of Northern British Columbia, whose theoretical and professional practice focus on medical/therapeutic relationships, medical and psychological diagnosis, and chronic illness. There will be two discussants: developmental psychologist Lois Holzman, and counseling psychologist Will Wadlington. |