Collective Committee

The last period saw a burst of activity on the Collective, prompted in no small measure by the contribution of members who have had long-standing interest in the potential that the Collective space offers us all. The Toronto Conference also generated themes related to our vitality and about leadership and governance – unsurprising, perhaps, given the times we are living through.

This saw expression in posts that raised questions about the politics of/in IARPP and questioned how power is negotiated within the association that many of us have come to see as our professional home. This brought its own challenges in terms of our role as Moderators: balancing our deep belief that difficult conversations need to occur at times before the light of dawn can break through, while holding the task of the Collective as a space that was created to allow us to think about and feel what is happening in the broader world and how it impacts us here now. After all: I am the world, the world is me.

Another interesting development was the Collective hosting a Zoom event, to further a discussion arising from a plenary paper at the Toronto Conference by Jessica Benjamin (USA). Our thanks to Jessica for so generously giving of her time for this pilot and experimental use of a new format, in terms of what has now become a somewhat older medium of engagement, listservs. While we approached this with a hesitation born of our awareness that it was new, it was not lost on us that many members registered for the event, which was received with enthusiasm. We appreciate the initiative of Gabriela Gusita (Greece) to request and then moderate the Collective discussion at this hosted event.

The warm reception of the Zoom event tells us that indeed there is a need to consider new formats and ways of fostering engagement in terms of the shared task that lead to the Collective’s birth. We hope discussions with the Board in the coming months will help formalize what we see as extended formats for Collective meetings.

As always, we look forward to your views and thoughts, in the Collective or backchannel, as the case may be. Thank you to one and all who have kept the Collective home fires going.

Best,
Rajan and Mitchel

Mitchel Becker (Israel) and Rajan Gupta (New Zealand)
IARPP Collective Listserv Co-Chairs and Co-Moderators

Mitchel Becker