November 15, 2004

Shimer faculty member John R. Wikse to speak and lead workshop on Social Neurosis

The Fall 2004 Shimer Lecture series continues when Dr. John R. Wikse, a member of the senior faculty, speaks on Practical Anthropology: Studying Our Social Neurosis. This lecture will trace the study of the social neurosis from its origins in the work of the pioneering American psychiatrist Trigant Burrow, through the dialogue groups developed by David Bohm, to Montague Ullman's method of dream appreciation. Emphasis will be on practical anthropology as a way of learning how to identify and overcome bias or prejudice.

This lecture will take place on Tuesday, November 16, at 7:00 pm in the Shimer College Gymnasium. The lecture is free of charge and open to the public. It will be followed by a question-and-answer session, and a reception in Prairie House Lounge, adjacent to the Gymnasium. In addition to the lecture, John Wikse will conduct a workshop entitled “Dreams as Social Intelligence,” an introduction to appreciating dreams as opening insight into social and political life. The workshop will take place on Wednesday, November 17, from 4:00 pm to 7:00pm, and is limited to 12 participants. Participants in the workshop are invited (though not required) to bring a recent dream to share. Reservations are required for participation in this workshop.

John Wikse received his Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California at Berkeley in 1974, where he also received his B.A. (1966) and M.A. (1967) in Political Science. He was an Assistant Professor at Pennsylvania State University from 1971 to 1978 until he joined the Shimer Faculty in 1979. From 1989 to 1992 he served as Research Director of the Lifwynn foundation, whose purpose has been to study the “feeling impediments” in society (hostility, personalistic competition, self absorption, exclusivity, bias and so on) by exploring such feelings within small groups. He is the author of About Possession: The Self as Private Property (1977) and numerous essays on the intersections of political theory and psychology. John Wikse currently lives with his family in California, and continues to serve Shimer students as Director of the Tutors Network.