Conferences

History of Constructivism World Congress

From SCHS Newsletter (November 2004)

Constructivism has been around for a long time.  I suspect that future constructions of its history of will reflect the fact that multiple groups were simultaneously converging on parallel themes.  On the eve of our (officially) IX World Congress on Constructivism, I thought it might be worth sharing some personal re-constructions. 

Bob Neimeyer and I organized a conference on Constructivism in Psychotherapy that took place in Memphis in 1990.  The presenters there included Mayte Miro and Guillem Feixas of Spain, Oscar Gonccalves of Portugal, Mario Reda of Italy, and Larry Leitner, George Howard, Joseph Rychlak, Greg Neimeyer, Stephanie Harter, and Robert Kegan from the USA.

Oscar Gonccalves organized a conference in Braga the following year, and Guillem Feixas and Manuel Villegas hosted a meeting in Barcelona in 1992.  The fourth constructivism conference was held in 1994 in tandem with the meeting of the Society for the Exploration of Psychotherapy Integration in Buenos Aires.  It was in Buenos Aires that the idea for an international society and journal took shape.

The Society for Constructivism in the Human Sciences was formed in 1996, just prior to the fifth congress in Tenerife.  The size and scope of the meetings continued to grow.  There was broad international representation in both Siena (1998) and Geneva (2000), with increasing contributions from specializations far beyond psychotherapy and psychology.  This multidisciplinary matrix was evident in Bari, Italy, as well, which was the largest and most diverse congress to date. 

The IX World Congress in Sweden is likely to set new standards for both attendance and range of topics.

Michael. J Mahoney

CONSTRUCTIVISM WORLD CONGRESSES

International Congress on Personal Construct Psychology