Dewey in Mexico (International Conference)

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Dewey in Mexico (International Conference)
by Gregory F. Pappas — last modified Jun 30, 2011 01:02 PM

Dewey in Mexico will be the first international and interdisciplinary conference that revisits the historical relation between Dewey and Mexico with the purpose of deriving some philosophical lessons for today.

Dewey in Mexico

“It was the most interesting single intellectual experience in my life”

–JOHN DEWEY

January 12-14, 2012

Instituto de Investigaciones Filosóficas (Institute of Philosophical Research)

Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico
Ciudad de la Investigación en Humanidades
Ciudad Universitaria, 04510, Coyoacán
México, D.F.

Confirmed co-sponsors:

Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy

John Dewey Society

The Center for Dewey Studies

Texas A&M University

Autonomous University of Sinaloa, Mexico

UNAM Mexico

International conference with speakers from the USA (e.g. Robert Westbrook, Richard Bernstein, and Larry Hickman), Mexico, Colombia, Spain, and Russia.

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John Dewey is the classical American pragmatist that has had the most extensive influence in Latin America. This influence is, in part, because of his memorable visits to Mexico. The first visit was to lecture at the 1926
Summer Session at the National University, following his trip to Europe with Albert Barnes. The second was in 1937 as chair of the Preliminary Commission of Inquiry into the charges brought by Stalin against Trotsky (it became known as “The Dewey Commission”).

Through these visits and translations of his works, Dewey had a significant impact in Mexico (and Latin America), but Dewey himself was also impacted by his experiences in Mexico. In a Letter to Max Eastman, Dewey wrote about his visit to Mexico to chair the Trostsky trial, “It was the most interesting single intellectual experience in my life”.

In the last decade, there have been conferences held around the world (e.g. China) centered on re-assessing the global impact of Dewey’s work. Yet none of these conferences were held in Latin America. Dewey in Mexico will be the first international and interdisciplinary conference that revisits the historical relation between Dewey and Mexico with the purpose of deriving some philosophical lessons for today.

CALL FOR PAPERS

The central theme of the conference is the historical and philosophical connections between John Dewey and Mexico. For instance:

(A) The Dewey-Trostky Relation

In 1937, the “American Committee for the Defense of Leon Trotsky” elected Dewey honorary chairman, and then asked him to chair a preliminary commission to investigate Stalin’s charges. In the first two weeks of April, 1937, Dewey repeatedly visited Leon Trotsky's home in Coyoacan, Mexico and took testimony for his research. There were thirteen hearings at that same place (from April 10 to April 17, 1937). We will welcome papers that revisit the similarities and differences between Dewey and Trostky in order to argue some thesis that are of contemporary relevance. For example: are important lessons to be learned today for political philosophy from the historical dialogue between Trotsty and Dewey?

(B) The Dewey-Diego Rivera Relation

Diego Rivera was a prominent Mexican painter who was famous for his murals (which can be seen in Mexico City, Chapingo, Cuernavaca, San Francisco, Detroit, and New York City). The relationship between Rivera and Dewey has received little attention. We will solicit papers that explore this relationship from both a historical and philosophical point of view. In spite of their political disagreements, we will explor aspects of Rivera’s ideas and works of art that resonate with Dewey’s aesthetics or views of democracy.

(C) The relation between Dewey (and his work) and Mexican Philosophers.

Some of the most outstanding philosophers in the Spanish-speaking world, and by far the most important philosophers who have translated Dewey’s works are José Gaos, Samuel Ramos and Eugenio Imáz. What can we learn from examining closely the translations and related commentaries of these Mexican philosophers of Dewey’s work? What philosophical similarities and differences did they have with Dewey’s philosophy? Did they find in Dewey’s philosophy an alternative way of dealing with modern problems, such as dualisms, apart from their own proposals or those originating in Europe?

Dewey was the object of tributes (publications and conferences) and special honorary recognition by institutions in Latin America. There is a resurgence of interest of pragmatism in the Hispanic world. What are the key ideas that have made Dewey’s work and pragmatism attractive to the Hispanic world?

(D) Dewey, Mexican culture-education, and the Mexican revolution.

Dewey’s published remarks about his experiences in Mexico are very perceptive about cultural differences. He was very impressed with what he found, especially with the democratic nature of the educational reforms inspired by the Mexican Revolution. He wrote about the

“educational development is the rural schools… it signifies a revolution rather than renaissance. It is not only a revolution for Mexico, but in some respects one of the most important social experiments undertaken anywhere in the world.”[1]

Dewey’s Mexican students Moisés Sáenz and Rafael Ramírez, used Dewey’s philosophy as part of the post-revolutionary transformation of education. Dewey’s indirect role in Mexico is prominent in historical interpretations of twentieth-century Mexico. Mexico’s experience with Deweyan philosophy became an important political platform for reform projects in twentieth-century U.S. society. Papers about the importance of this tangled relationship between Latin America and the United States because of Dewey (his visits and ideas) are welcome. What was the impact of Dewey (and his students) on Mexican education after the Mexican revolution? Papers about the Deweyean conception of democracy and the Mexican revolution are also welcome. How to evaluate the Mexican (or any) revolution in light of Dewey’s philosophy? How is this different than the Marxist approach? What is the long lasting legacy of the Mexican revolution from the point of view of democracy?

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

DEADLINE for submissions is October 1, 2011. Please submit your paper or proposal following the guidelines below.

Electronic Submissions: All submissions must be submitted electronically. Documents formatted in Microsoft Word (.doc) or rich text format (.rft) are preferred.

Papers may not exceed 3000 words in length, and submissions should include a word count and a 150-word abstract (that is not counted in the word total) on the title page. Papers exceeding this length will not be considered.

Please direct any other questions or comments to:

Gregory Fernando Pappas

Department of Philosophy

Texas A & M University

goyo_pappas@sbcglobal.net

g-pappas@tamu.edu

(512) 459-5267