Girindrasekhar Bose
Encyclopedia
Girindrasekhar Bose was an early 20th century South Asian psychoanalyst.
Bose was the first president (1922–1953) of the Indian Psychoanalytic Society.
He carried on a twenty-year dialogue with Sigmund Freud
. He is known for disputing the specifics of Freud's Oedipal theory, and has been pointed to by some as an early example of non-Western contestations of Western methodologies.
His doctoral thesis, Concept of Repression (1921) in which he blended Hindu thought with Freudian concepts and which he sent to Freud, led to a correspondence between the two men and to the formation of the Indian Psychoanalytic Society in 1922 in Calcutta. Of the fifteen original members, nine were college teachers of psychology or philosophy and five belonged to the medical corps of the Indian Army, including two British psychiatrists. One of them was Owen A.R. Berkeley Hill, famous for his work at the Ranchi
Mental Hospital. In the same year, Bose wrote to Freud in Vienna. Freud was pleased that his ideas had spread to such a far-off land and asked Bose to write to Ernest Jones
, then President of the International Psychoanalytic Association, for membership of that body. Bose did so and the Indian Psychoanalytic Society, with Bose as president (a position he held until his death in 1953) became a full-fledged member of the international psychoanalytic community.
The review of the Indian Psychoanalytic Society is called Samiksa and its first edition appeared in 1947.
Bose has been written about extensively by Christiane Hartnack, Amit Ranjan Basu and Ashis Nandy
, Sudhir Kakar, Manasi Kumar, and Christopher Harding, amongst others.
The correspondence between Freud and Bose is to be found in the Sigmund Freud Archives
, section Organization of the Papers, General Correspondence, Box 18 (page 19) Bose Girindrashekar.
Some of the letters are available in the Archives of the Freud Museum in London. In 1964, the Bose-Freud correspondence was published in a booklet by the Indian Psycho-analytical Society (Calcutta).
Bose was the first president (1922–1953) of the Indian Psychoanalytic Society.
He carried on a twenty-year dialogue with Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud , born Sigismund Schlomo Freud , was an Austrian neurologist who founded the discipline of psychoanalysis...
. He is known for disputing the specifics of Freud's Oedipal theory, and has been pointed to by some as an early example of non-Western contestations of Western methodologies.
His doctoral thesis, Concept of Repression (1921) in which he blended Hindu thought with Freudian concepts and which he sent to Freud, led to a correspondence between the two men and to the formation of the Indian Psychoanalytic Society in 1922 in Calcutta. Of the fifteen original members, nine were college teachers of psychology or philosophy and five belonged to the medical corps of the Indian Army, including two British psychiatrists. One of them was Owen A.R. Berkeley Hill, famous for his work at the Ranchi
Ranchi
-Climate:Ranchi has a humid subtropical climate. However, due to its position and the forests around the city, it is known for its pleasant climate. Its climate is the primary reason why Ranchi was once the summer capital of the undivided State of Bihar...
Mental Hospital. In the same year, Bose wrote to Freud in Vienna. Freud was pleased that his ideas had spread to such a far-off land and asked Bose to write to Ernest Jones
Ernest Jones
Alfred Ernest Jones was a British neurologist and psychoanalyst, and Sigmund Freud’s official biographer. Jones was the first English-speaking practitioner of psychoanalysis and became its leading exponent in the English-speaking world where, as President of both the British Psycho-Analytical...
, then President of the International Psychoanalytic Association, for membership of that body. Bose did so and the Indian Psychoanalytic Society, with Bose as president (a position he held until his death in 1953) became a full-fledged member of the international psychoanalytic community.
The review of the Indian Psychoanalytic Society is called Samiksa and its first edition appeared in 1947.
Bose has been written about extensively by Christiane Hartnack, Amit Ranjan Basu and Ashis Nandy
Ashis Nandy
Ashis Nandy is an Indian political psychologist, a social theorist, and a contemporary cultural and political critic. A trained sociologist and clinical psychologist, his body of work covers a variety of topics, including public conscience, mass violence, and dialogues of civilizations.He was...
, Sudhir Kakar, Manasi Kumar, and Christopher Harding, amongst others.
The correspondence between Freud and Bose is to be found in the Sigmund Freud Archives
Sigmund Freud Archives
The Sigmund Freud Archives mainly consist of a trove of documents housed at the US Library of Congress and in the former residence of Sigmund Freud during the last year of his life at 20 Maresfield Gardens in northwest London...
, section Organization of the Papers, General Correspondence, Box 18 (page 19) Bose Girindrashekar.
Some of the letters are available in the Archives of the Freud Museum in London. In 1964, the Bose-Freud correspondence was published in a booklet by the Indian Psycho-analytical Society (Calcutta).
Further reading
- T.G. Vaidyanathan & Jeffrey J. Kripal (editors): Vishnu on Freud's Desk: A Reader in Psychoanalysis and Hinduism, Oxford University Press ISBN 0195658353, Paperback (Edition: 2003)
- Amit Ranjan Basu,"Girindrasekhar Basu and the coming of psychology in colonial India," Theoretical Perspective, Vol.6, 1999, pp. 26–55.
- Amit Ranjan Basu, "Emergence of a Marginal Science in a Colonial City: Reading Psychiatry in Bengali Periodicals." Indian Economic and Social History Review, 41, 2004, pp 103–141.
- Amit Ranjan Basu, "Historicizing Indian psychiatry" Indian Journal of Psychiatry, Vol. 47, No. 2, 2005, pp. 126–129.
- Amit Ranjan Basu, The Coming of Psychoanalysis in Colonial India: the Bengali Writings of Dr. Girindrasekhar Bose, No. 5, 1999 (Centre for Studies in Social Sciences), Enreca Occasional Paper Series - Cu[l]ture and the Disciplines: Papers from the Cultural Studies Workshops/Tapti Guha Thakurta (35.54 p.)
- Christopher Harding, ‘The Freud Franchise: Independence of Mind in India and Japan’, in R. Clarke (ed), Celebrity and Colonialism: Fame, Power and Representation in (Post) Colonial Cultures (Cambridge Scholars Press, 2009).