Brian J. McVeigh | |
|---|---|
.jpg) | |
| Born | 21 January 1959 |
| Academic background | |
| Alma mater | Princeton University (Ph.D.), University at Albany, SUNY (B.A., M.A., M.S.) |
| Influences | Julian Jaynes |
| Academic work | |
| Institutions | University of Arizona Tokyo Jogakkan College |
| Main interests | human mentality past and present, Japan |
| Notable ideas | stratigraphic psychology |
| Website | https://princeton.academia.edu/BrianMcVeigh |
Brian J. McVeigh (born 1959) is a scholar of Asia specialized in Japanese popular culture, education, politics, and history. He is also a theorist of cultural psychology and historical changes in human mentality. He received his doctorate in 1991 from Princeton University's Department of Anthropology. While a graduate student, he studied under Julian Jaynes, and he credits Jaynes as a formative influence.[1] After spending 16 years working and writing in East Asia, McVeigh taught at the University of Arizona until 2013. Most recently, as a licensed mental health counselor, he has researched and applied Jaynesian psychology for therapeutic purposes.
Asia Years edit
After one year of post-doctoral study at Beijing University, McVeigh relocated to Japan, where he quickly gained recognition as a significant social critic and author. His 1997 book Life in a Japanese Women's College, cited by The Economist as "meant for serious study,"[2] was described in the Journal of Japanese Studies as "a vehement critique of Japanese education as state-managed technocratic training and sorting, to the severe detriment of humanistic teaching and learning."[3] Other books followed. Duncan McCargo, reviewing McVeigh's 1998 The Nature of the Japanese State for the Japan Forum, described McVeigh as "a major new analyst of contemporary Japan. Trained as an anthropologist of religion, McVeigh is nevertheless a social science all-rounder, equally at home in the fields of education, sociology, and politics. His skills in empirical research, coupled with his impressive capacity for lateral thinking, make him ideally placed to develop nuanced and subtle readings of Japanese society."[4] Reviewers of McVeigh's Wearing Ideology: State, Schooling, and Self-Preservation in Japan (2000) found that book "powerful and evocative"[5], "stunning...a book that must be read"[6], "intriguing and plausible"[7], "insightful and provocative"[8], "a thought-provoking book"[9], an "insightful glimpse into a part of Japanese society that has been under examined," [10], and "Systematic in its approach, empirically committed, containing a host of insights, and theoretically informed...McVeigh is both honest and brave...."[11] McVeigh's 2002 Japanese Higher Education as Myth was nominated for the Francis Hsu Book Prize[12] in 2004. The reviewer for Journal of Japanese Studies wrote, "McVeigh's book is "a provocative addition to the debate on Japanese higher education and should be compulsory reading for anyone in the field....the winds of change are in fact gathering pace. This may be due not only to the economic recession and the demographic decline in Heisei Japan, but also to the sustained efforts of critics of the system -- including McVeigh himself."[13]
Post Asia edit
Upon his return to the United States to take a teaching position at the University of Arizona, McVeigh broadened and elevated his scholarly attentions, inspired by the influence of his Princeton mentor Jaynes. In 2008, he used a review of Russell Hurlburt and Eric Schwitzgebel's Describing Inner Experience: A Proponent Meets Skeptic to argue that "besides treating questions of cultural comparison, a well-balanced psychology must also confront chronological changes in the human psyche. What is needed is a 'stratigraphic psychology.'"[14] The proposal urged psychology scholars to expand their discipline temporally, to explore the adaptive changes from pre-conscious human mentalities and potentially to anticipate future adaptations. McVeigh's review cites as a benchmark and point of departure Jaynes's The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind. And seven of McVeigh's eight books published since 2015 seek to explicate, extend, and apply formulations derived in part from Jaynes. McVeigh currently serves as senior researcher and advisor for the "Julian Jaynes Society"..
References edit
- ^ "His research in many ways has informed and inspired my own thinking...." 7:24 mark within McVeigh, Brian J. (2012). "Hallucinations as Adaptive Behavior". Retrieved 2021-10-18.
- ^ Anonymous (1997-06-07). "Serviceable". The Economist. 343 (8020): 88.
- ^ Kelly, William W. (1999). "Review". The Journal of Japanese Studies. 25 (2). The Society for Japanese Studies: 490. JSTOR 133345.
- ^ McCargo, Duncan (2001). "Book Reviews". Japan Forum. 13 (1). British Association for Japanese Studies: 133. doi:10.1080/09555800020004048.
- ^ Zitowitz, Philip D. (2001-08-19). "Uniformly stylish Japanese". The Japan Times.
- ^ Hegland, Jane E. (2002). "Book Reviews". Journal of Consumer Culture. 2 (3): 409, 410. doi:10.1177/146954050200200307.
- ^ Eades, Jerry (2002). "Book Reviews". Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute. 8 (2): 401. JSTOR 3134510.
- ^ Yano, Christine R. (2003). "Book Reviews". Journal of Anthropological Research. 59 (2). University of Chicago Press: 273. JSTOR 3631654.
- ^ Goodman, Roger (2002). "Book Reviews". Asian Studies Review. 26 (1). Asian Studies Association of Australia: 127. doi:10.1080/10357820208713333.
- ^ Allen, Matthew (2003). "Book Reviews". The Australian Journal of Anthropology. 14 (2): 291.
- ^ Ben-Ari, Eyal (2002). "Review". Journal of Japanese Studies. 28 (1): 230, 232. JSTOR 4126798.
- ^ "Francis L. K. Hsu Book Prize". Society for East Asian Anthropology. 2021. Retrieved 2021-10-18.
- ^ Eades, J. S. (2004). "Review". Journal of Japanese Studies. 30 (1): 273–274. JSTOR 25064484.
- ^ McVeigh, Brian J. (2008-03-04). "Metapsychology Online Reviews" (PDF). Retrieved 2021-10-18.
Selected publications edit
- McVeigh, Brian J. The Psychology of Westworld: When Machines Go Mad. Kindle Edition. Amazon.com Services, 2018.
- McVeigh, Brian J. The Psychology of the Bible: Explaining Divine Voices and Visions. Exeter, UK: Imprint Academic, 2020.
- McVeigh, Brian J. The "Other" Psychology of Julian Jaynes: Ancient Languages, Sacred Visions, and Forgotten Mentalities. Exeter, UK: Imprint Academic, 2017.
- McVeigh, Brian J. How Religion Evolved: Explaining the Living Dead, Talking Idols, and Mesmerizing Monuments. Piscataway, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 2016.
- McVeigh, Brian J. Discussions with Julian Jaynes: The Nature of Consciousness and the Vagaries of Psychology. New York, NY: Nova Science Publishers, 2016.
- McVeigh, Brian J. The History of Japanese Psychology: Global Perspectives, 1875-1950. London, UK: Bloomsbury, 2017.
- McVeigh, Brian J. A Psychohistory of Metaphors: Envisioning Time, Space, and Self through the Centuries. Lanham, Maryland: Lexington, 2016.
- McVeigh, Brian J. The Propertied Self: The Psychology of Economic History. New York, NY: Nova Science Publishers, 2015.
- McVeigh, Brian J. Interpreting Japan: Approaches and Applications for the Classroom. London: Routledge, 2014.
- McVeigh, Brian J. Mental Imagery and Hallucinations as Adaptive Behavior: Divine Voices and Visions as Neuropsychological Vestiges. The International Journal of the Image, Volume 3, Issue 1, pp. 25‒36.
- McVeigh, Brian J. Spirits, Selves, and Subjectivity in a Japanese New Religion: The Cultural Psychology of Belief in Sûkyô Mahikari. Lewiston, New York: Edwin Mellen Press, 1997.
- McVeigh, Brian J. Life in a Japanese Women’s College: Learning to Be Ladylike. London: Routledge, 1998.
- McVeigh, Brian J. The Nature of the Japanese State: Rationality and Rituality. London: Routledge, 1998.
- McVeigh, Brian J. Wearing Ideology: State, Schooling, and Self-Presentation in Japan. Oxford: Berg Publishers, 2000.
- McVeigh, Brian J. Japanese Higher Education as Myth. Armonk, New York: M.E. Sharpe, 2002.
- McVeigh, Brian J. Nationalisms of Japan: Managing and Mystifying Identity Boulder, Colorado: Rowman & Littlefield, 2003.
- McVeigh, Brian J. The State Bearing Gifts: Deception and Disaffection in Japanese Higher Education. Boulder, Colorado: Lexington Books, 2006.
External links edit
- Brian J. McVeigh's books
- Brian J. McVeigh at academia.edu
- Brian J. McVeigh discusses hallucinations on YouTube
- Brian J. McVeigh discusses Julian Jaynes on YouTube
- Julian Jaynes Society Website
Category:American anthropologists
Category:Psychological anthropologists
Category:Cultural anthropologists
Category:Ethnographers
Category:1959 births
Category:Living people
Category:Princeton University alumni