Coexistence and Confluence of Intellectual Traditions: the Works of Sudhir Kakar Danube University, Krems Austria
Objective To shed light on Kakar s contributions to psychology by placing these in cultural, social and historical contexts 2
Methodology In order to sharpen our understanding of Kakar s contribution to psychology in a globalizing world, I will use as a point of reference the published works of Girindrasekhar Bose another eminent Indian psychologist and psychoanalyst who predated Kakar by about 50 years. 3
Why compare and contrast Bose and Kakar? Their work in a colonial setting (Bose) and in a burgeoning global post-colonial environment (Kakar), reflects epochal differences. Nonetheless, in their creative fusion of Hindu and European psychological methods and practises, Bose and Kakar show striking similarities. 4
Outline Bose s and Kakar s biographies, including: social and historical contexts therapeutic work and research major publications sources of their creativity Bose s and Kakar s contributions to psychology Differences and commonalities between Bose and Kakar Kakar s (and Bose s) relevance for contemporary psychology 5
Girindrasekhar Bose: 1887-1953 Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/girindrasekhar_bose (June 10, 2012) 6
Sudhir Kakar (born in 1938) 7 Source: Titlephoto, The Essental Sudhir Kakar, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2011
Bose: Biographical information Studied medicine and psychology at the University of Calcutta Treated patients and practised psychoanalysis (1910 to about 1950) Taught psychoanalysis at the University of Calcutta from 1917 onward Became Professor of Psychology at the University of Calcutta in 1921 Corresponded with Sigmund Freud (1921 to 1937) Founded the Indian Psychoanalytical Association in 1923 8
Kakar: Biographical information Studied engineering (Ahmedabad); economics (Mannheim, Vienna) Postgraduate work in psychology at Harvard University (with Erik Erickson) Psychoanalytic training at the Sigmund Freud Institute in Frankfurt Practised psychoanalysis in New Delhi (1975-1990) Researched and lectured at many universities, including McGill, Harvard, Princeton, Chicago, Berlin, Vienna, Fontainebleau Wrote numerous books and articles, several novels and his memoirs 9
Bose s social and historical context Belonged to a well-to-do Bengali Hindu family (Varna: Kshatrya; Jāti: writers and administrators) Lived during the heyday of resistance against British colonial rule Had like most Bengalis of his social stratum a strong sense of Indian identity Showed little interest in the acceptance of his work outside India 10
Kakar s social and historical context Born into a well-to-do family (Varna: Kshatrya, Jāti: administrators); experienced the Partititon of British India as a child Due to post-colonial India s economic isolation, he grew up in an epoch of idealization of Europe and North America (Indian brain drain ) Experienced India s economic development and the prospering of the Indian upper middle class after 1990 11 Witnessed Indian reactions to globalization (especially since 1998): critical view of imported values, behaviors and ways of thinking renewed emphasis on Hindu traditions
Bose s therapeutic work Patients: Bhadralok (westernized middle- and upperclass Bengali men) His focus was on dissolving blocked flows of psychic energy using: dream analysis his own therapeutic see-saw method a deck chair (instead of a psychoanalytic couch) 12
Kakar s therapeutic work Psychoanalytical practise in an upper-middleclass district of New Delhi (1975 to 1990) Classical psychoanalytical setting with a couch Patients were foreigners and highly westernized Indian men and women 13
Bose s research Re: Freudian concepts dreams structure of wishes Oedipus complex 14 Re: Hindu concepts and practises practiced yoga was interested in indigenous psychological knowledge and practices with the guidance of a Pandit, self-experimented with his own inner world
Kakar s research Multi-disciplinary research on: sexuality in India aspects of Hindu religion gender relations child-rearing Hindu-Muslim tensions folk tales and traditions of healing 15
Bose s major publications 16 Concept of Repression (1921) Calcutta: G. Bose, 1921 The Free Association Method in Psycho-Analysis. Indian Journal of Psychology, 1 (1926), 187-99 Swapna [Dream]. Calcutta: Ram Kamal Singha, Bangiya Sahityaparishat, 1928 The Psychological Outlook of Hindu Philosophy. Indian Journal of Psychology, 5 (1930), 119-46 A New Theory of Mental Life. Indian Journal of Psychology, 8 (1933), 37-157 Opposite Fantasies in the Release of Repression. Indian Journal of Psychology, 10 (1935), 29-41 The Mechanism of Defiance. Indian Journal of Psychology, 20 (1945), 15-30 The Genesis and Adjustment of the Oedipus Wish. Samiksa, 3 (1949), 222-40 Analysis of Wish. Samiksa, 6 (1952), 1-11 Yoga Sutras. Samiksa, 11 (1957), 44-63, 157-85, 217-37.
Kakar s major non-fiction publications 17 The Inner World: A Psychoanalytic Study of Childhood and Society in India, Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1978 Identity And Adulthood, Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1980 Shamans, Mystics, And Doctors, New York: A. Knopf, 1982 Intimate Relations, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990 The Colors Of Violence, Cultural Identities, Religion and Conflict, Delhi: Viking, 1995 Culture And Psyche, Selected Essays, Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1996 The Indian Psyche, Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1996 The Essential Sudhir Kakar, Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2011 A Book of Memory, Penguin Viking, New Delhi, 2011
Sources of Bose s creativity Educated in European as well as Bengali Hindu traditions; could apply both with ease Developed the aura of a guru Intellectual support from lively exchanges with his Adda (discussion group consisting of men with leisure time) 18
Sources of Kakar s creativity Due to his education and work in India, as well as in Europe and North America, he has been able to bring elements of these cultures into creative tension and at times into fusion. He offers insights into the inner world of Indian Hindus and into Hindu world views, for which he finds a captive audience in Europe and North America. 19
Bose s major contributions to psychology Gained insights into the inner world of colonized upper-middleclass Bengali men (discovered their wish to be female ) Pointed out the importance of overcoming a subject-object dichotomy through empathy Emphasized cyclic flows and the importance of wishes Revised Freud s assumptions re the universality of his findings (especially with regard to gender issues and the Oedipus complex) 20
Kakar s major contributions to psychology Combines anthropological findings, clinical vignettes, excepts from mythology and folklore to bring out the importance of cultural priming Sheds light on mother-child relationships in traditional Hindu middle and upper classes 21 Provides insights into issues of mysticism, sexuality and communal violence in India
Differences between Bose and Kakar Bose grew up within a context of political and ideological resistance to colonial rule and wrote for Indian readers. Kakar grew up with the allure of Europe and North America and now writes primarily for a cosmopolitan readership. Bose gained many insights by discussing his ideas in an Adda. Kakar lives in rural Goa and relies on a virtual network. Bose taught at the University of Calcutta for his entire career and practised psychoanalysis for more than 40 years. Kakar often changed his institutional affiliation and stopped practising psychoanalysis to become a writer. 22
Commonalities I: Bose and Kakar s Western orientation Both applied to Indian patients a methodology that was originally developed for Viennese neuroses. Bose as well as Kakar made revisions to Freudian concepts: importance of the mother (maternal) deities the Oedipus complex 23
Commonalities II: Bose and Kakar s inclusion of Hindu traditions Worldview that there are interactions between all that exists (principles of unity and empathy) Persons are not seen as isolated individuals but within their relationships Importance of relativizing and contextualizing (instead of reaching for absolutes) Acceptance of ambiguities (instead of striving for one standpoint or synthesis) High appreciation of feminine powers Dynamic focus on flows (rather than on static structures or topographies) 24 Interest in yoga and other Indian methods of healing
Kakar s (and Bose s) relevance for contemporary psychology Indigenous cognitive traditions and the now universally employed European and North American psychological methodology and practice co-exist not only in India, but elsewhere. Kakar like Bose before him provides a model for how to creatively combine these approaches. 25
Conclusion Bose as well as Kakar have shown that the amalgamation (and creative development) of universal and indigenous elements of experience has the potential to enrich our understanding of the inner world. They have also investigated the relationship between human beings and their place in the material and immaterial world around them (the global ecosystem). 26
Thank you for your attention Please feel free to contact: Christiane.Hartnack@donau-uni.ac.at 27