ESRC Seminar Series, 5th seminar

Global Citizenship as a Graduate Attribute:

Cultures of Teaching and Global Well Being

16 December 2011

University College London

United Kingdom

Dr Sushrut Jadhav

Senior Lecturer in Cross-cultural Psychiatry

Unit of Mental Health Sciences

University College London

Global citizenship as a graduate attribute

This seminar examines Cultures of Teaching,

Intercultural Interactions, & Global Citizenship.

Part I unpacks the cultural construction of teacher-

student relationship amongst mental health

professionals in South Asia

Part II examines its impact on well being in India

Part III demonstrates its impact on well being in the UK

The seminar concludes by arguing that wellbeing is

generated and contested within the inter-subjective

space of teacher-student relationship, and requires a

fundamental rethink on how this impacts both on health

and suffering across cultures, and on the idea of ‘Global

Citizenship’.

Part I Cultural construction of the Teacher

Part II

The Elephant, vanishes

Part III The Elephant, returns

Part IV

Discussion

Part I

Cultural construction of the Teacher (Guru)

A hierarchical patriarchal teacher – student (Guru-Shisya) relationship continues to underpin the interaction between senior Indian mental health professionals and their junior trainees. Although commonly cited in the context of Music, Art, & psychotherapy, this subject also dominates the academic personal ties between senior Indian mental health professionals and their more junior trainees. In most instances, the alliance between autocratic Fathers and submissive Sons is fraught with tensions that are rarely verbalised freely. Thus, Sons of Fathers of Indian mental health/psychiatry cannot mount a challenge, or for that matter, confront received theory or practice unless the Teacher (Guru) has given his blessings to the student (Shisya).

Centre & Margins: student and tribals

Semiotics of Govt. of India Education Ministry

Web Site, ca 21st Century

Gurus as social cultural institution, Part 1 of 2 from Ranade, A (2002): The Guru-Shishya Parampara,

Journal of ethnomusicology, 6, 38-50

Sanskrit

Guru

Shishya

Guru-shishya parampara

Guru dakshina

Guru krama

Guru-shishya shikshanpaddhati

Gurukul

Guruseva

Gurudakshina

Guru sanman/smaran/pranam

Hindi

Guru, ustad

Shishya, shagird

Guru-shishya parampara

Guru dakshina

Gurukram

do

do

Guruseva, khidmat

Gurudakshina, nazar

do

Guru as social cultural institution: Part 2 of 2

Sanksrit

Deeksha-shiksha-pariksha

Sampradaya

Guruprakar/barga

Shishyaprakar/varga

Gurupournima

Chhatra

Gurumantra

Adhyayansthala

Gurupatni

Gurubhakti

Guruvaar

Gurubhakti

Guruvagya

Hindi

Deeksha-shiksha-pariksha

Gharana

Guruvarg

Do

Gurupoornima

Do

Do

Do

Do

Do

Do

Do

Do

Fathers & Sons across cultures (Gurus & Shisyas)

Goldman’s* three major variants of Oedipal conflict in the Classic Indian Epics

(Mahabharatas, Ramanayas, & Puranas)

1. A son, always a surrogate son, successfully challenges a father figure and through this attack achieves maturity and temporal power (European folk narratives: Bettelheim 1976)

* Goldman, RP (1978): Fathers, Sons and Gurus: Oedipal conflict in the Sanskrit epics. Journal of Indian philosophy, 6, 325-92

Goldman’s 3 major variants in Classic Indian Epics

2. The sons attacks a surrogate father and/or surrogate mother. He may succeed in actually killing the father but whether he does or not, here he is punished with symbolic castration. This pattern, says Goldman, is more popular in India than in Europe

Goldman’s 3 major variants in Classic Indian Epics

3. A heroic son anticipates and avoids overt oedipal conflicts and paternal aggression by freely submitting to the father’s will, in effect castrating himself. Heroes of this type are never punished but on the contrary rewarded in various ways; however, these rewards are generally compensatory, for the major Indian heroes of this type are commonly excluded from the pleasures and privileges of sexuality and temporal power

Through a process of collusion between internalised colonial authority and more grounded ancient cultural prescriptions that legitimise and bestow power on the Father figure, the submissive trainee and patient suffer from consequences of such cultural dynamic. If, as an extreme scenario, declaring a Teacher’s (Guru’s) sacred teaching as profane is fraught with grave personal social consequences, what creative alternatives are available to the budding junior trainee?

Consider therefore…

The Gurus of mental health across cultures have colluded in the development and application of such research methods, instruments and scales appear. This is not just a matter of cultural insensitivity or about category errors. These are indeed ‘instruments of violence’ that are manufactured in high income countries and like ‘pills’ are ‘swallowed’ (or internalised) by low income countries.

Hence…

Mental health professionals, particularly those from low-income nations, have often expressed surprise at the manner in which scholarly discourses about social sciences are confined to the academic institutions of high-income countries, and have little impact on changes in everyday clinical practice in their own settings.

The implication that…

‘Your textbooks on mental health don’t mention anything about our problems’ -Activist at a conference on Caste & Mental Health, Pune,

India, 2007)

Colonial influences ~British Universities

Historically dominant elites Caste groups

Indian medical establishment Selected through marks (proxy for caste) not of

course cultural sensitivity

Gurus/ teachers

Shisyas/students

Doctors & Patients, Teachers (gurus) and Students (shisyas)

Part II

The Elephant, vanishes *

* Jadhav, S & Barua, M (2012): The Elephant Vanishes: implications of

human-elephant conflict on peoples’ wellbeing. Manuscript in process of

submission for publication.

* Jadhav, S & Barua, M (2012): The Elephant Vanishes:

implications of human-elephant conflict on peoples’

wellbeing. Manuscript in process of submission for

publication.

Lord Ganesha†:

the remover of obstacles

One can start from Ganesha and work from there in an unbroken line to almost any aspect of Indian culture

Wendy O’Flaherty

In ‘The Living Elephants’

Raman Sukumar, OUP, 2003

† Ganesha was both a creator and remover of obstacles during the first millenium.

Year Human Deaths Elephant Deaths* Source

1999-2000 35 4 BNT

2000-01 56 6 BNT

2001-02 39 30 BNT

2002-03 76 19 BNT

2003-04 NA 23 BNT

2004-05 NA 19 BNT

2005-06 NA 20 BNT

2006-07 NA 32 BNT

2007-08 44 25 BNT

2008-09 52 10 Sentinel

2009-10 70 9 Sentinel

*Conflict-related elephant deaths only

Total: 372 humans, 197 elephants killed in last 10 years

Consequences of Human Elephant Conflict (HEC) Social & Ecological *

SOCIAL

• Direct

– Loss of life/injury (Dixon et al 2009): diminished well being of survivors

– Damage to crops/livestock (Dixon et al 2009); affects livelihood, food security, & sustainability of agriculture

– Loss of property

• Indirect

– Oppurtunity costs for individuals/community (Hoare 2000, Naughton et al 1999, Dixon et al 2009): restricts movements, property guarding consequences incl physical and psychological ill health, employment

– Transaction costs for -------------(Saberwal et al 1994): temporal delays with compensation

– Hiddden-psychological costs

– Institutional costs (weakens policy): hampers re-introduction of policy

* Jadhav, S & Barua, M (2012): The Elephant Vanishes: implications of human-elephant

conflict on peoples’ wellbeing. Manuscript in process of submission for publication.

From Barua. M (2005) The Elephant in Assamese history and mythology.

Kaziranga Centenary Volume P.33-35.

The Elephant and Corporate Agriculture

Psychiatric consequences *:

Widow: clinical depression,

panic disorder, phobia

Child: severe school refusal

Uncle: gastric ulcer surgery

Son: Severe depression

* Jadhav, S & Barua, M (2012): The Elephant Vanishes:

implications of human-elephant conflict on peoples’

wellbeing. Manuscript in process of submission for

publication.

The

People…

and

Subsistence

Agriculture

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The Gaze of The Clinic

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The

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Clinic

* Jadhav, S & Barua, M (2012): The Elephant

Vanishes: The implications of human-

elephant conflict on peoples’ wellbeing.

Manuscript in process of submission for

publication.

Human, Poor mental health Alcohol Abuse Elephant

Elephant Conflict with humans Criminalised

Human Fatality Psychiatric Morbidity Elephant Fatality

MENTAL HEALTH DIMENSIONS OF

HUMAN ELEPHANT CONFLICT *

* Jadhav, S & Barua, M (2012): The Elephant Vanishes: implications of human-

elephant conflict on peoples’ wellbeing. Manuscript in process of submission for

publication.

"diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia", "not engaged with CMHT", "non-

compliant with his medication", "not picked up prescription from gp",

"hostile", "hostile and aggressive", "made threats to kill", "denied all mental

health problems", "hostile and angry, with challenging manner and

behaviour"

"no management problems on ward, appropriate in behaviour and

interacting well with staff and other patients..remained stable..however he

was adamant that he didn't suffer from any mental illness and had a brain

problem.. Would not take medication on discharge“

"non-compliant", "lacking insight, irritable and hostile in manner and was

expressing paranoid ideas about his psychiatrist", "refused to remain

informal"

LONDON ca 2010 *

Stock phrases about a black Afro-carribean subject extracted from his

case notes by mental health professionals on a UK psychiatric ward

“when a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a measure”

Maryln Strathern (1997) *Jadhav, S (2012): Clinical efficacy of Cultural Formulations

Year Human Deaths Elephant Deaths* Source

1999-2000 35 4 BNT

2000-01 56 6 BNT

2001-02 39 30 BNT

2002-03 76 19 BNT

2003-04 NA 23 BNT

2004-05 NA 19 BNT

2005-06 NA 20 BNT

2006-07 NA 32 BNT

2007-08 44 25 BNT

2008-09 52 10 Sentinel

2009-10 70 9 Sentinel

*Conflict-related elephant deaths only

Total: 372 humans, 197

elephants killed in last 10

years

High prevalence of

substance misuse in

North East India

The metaphorical ‘elephant’ is one of the

missing links. The state apparatus

colludes to deny a vital dimension of the

logic of suffering that constitutes the

local landscapes. This is at both places:

‘remote’ parts of India, and ‘central’

London.

Underconnected and Stagnant

Underconnected & Dislocated

Stagnant and Overconnected

Dislocated & Overconnected

Underconnected

Dislocated

(geographic

al)

Overconnected

Stagnant

(geographic

al)

e.g. Aristocracy,

Caste groups

e.g. Refugees,

Homeless,

Mentally Unwell

e.g.

Fundamentalists

e.g. Wealthy

Diaspora

CULTURAL IDENTITY & WELL BEING *

psychological, cultural, temporal; shaped by choice & response from host society

*Ja

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Part III: The Elephant, returns

(The University)

Global Well Being and its relationship with: the local, the excluded, & the marginal.

Cultures of Teaching (Inter-cultural interaction) & Global

Well Being

Where has the Elephant vanished? * • The ‘Pan-Opticon’ has retreated and transformed into the

‘Pan-Lexicon’ of Health Professional’s vocabulary, world wide*

• Global well being is a stunted concept if it does not address plurality of teaching cultures

• The Local impacts upon the Global (Pedagogy & Ecology)

• What about the Student who does not reach the UK?

• What about the Homeless who does not have an address?

• What about the Minority Groups across cultures?

• What about the Universities at the Margins?

• If the Centres don’t connect with the Margins, we are at risk of reproducing and amplifying inequalities through our cultures of teaching, including teacher-student encounters

• This will impact on our own and their ‘Well Being’ *Ja

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