1. Contributions of Valerie Malhotra Bentz,PhD A Scholar Plenary Panel
Society for Phenomenology and Human Sciences
October 22, 2016
Salt Lake City, Utah

3. We begin with a moment of mindful presencing

4. Bentz: Innovative Scholar
Life-long academic
A veteran phenomenology scholar
Formally trained as sociologist
Extensive teaching and research practices
Follower of Alfred Schutz, Martin Heidegger, G.H. Mead
Adopted phenomenology, extensive writings
Author of five books, including a historic novel
Published over 40 journal articles
Authored and delivered over 80 papers and presentations
Former editor of the SPHS book review journal, Clinical Sociology Review (1997), Sociological Quarterly ( )
Multiple awards and research grants

5. Bentz: Educator
Long-time visionary and faculty at Fielding University (1991+)
Overseen multiple phenomenology research studies and dissertations, mentored and chaired scores of student scholars
Leads the newly approved Phenomenology and Communicative Leadership Concentration
Program Director ( )
Associate Dean of Research ( )
Countless academic committees and task forces
Chair of Doctoral Faculty, School of Human and Organization Development,

6. Bentz: Passionate Practitioner, Citizen, Humanist
Musician, Music Scholarship, Valparaiso University
A psychotherapist (CSW-ACP, LPC), massage therapist
A yoga instructor and Vedanta Society member
Environmental activist
Board member of Carpinteria Valley Assoc
Former board member Greenspace land trust, Cambria CA 
A peace activist since1968; marched for open housing with Father James Grappi in Milwaukee

7. From Sociologist to Phenomenologist: Five Stages
From playing child to aging mentor: The role of human studies in my development as a scholar (Bentz, V. M., 2002, Human Studies)
From Sociologist to Phenomenologist: Five Stages
Child Playing Phenomenologist (1980s)
Adolescent Father Complex (Phenomenology of Consciousness)
A Woman in Love: Marrying Mead and Heidegger
Singing Mother: Coming into her own voice
[Aging] Mentor: Mindful & contemplative inquiry

8. Session Moderator Luann Drolc Fortune, PhD, Fielding Alum (HOD), ISI Fellow
Panelists
Michael Barber, St. Louis University,
Evelyn Torton Beck, Univ. of Maryland,
Carlos Belvedere, Univ. of Buenos Aires,
Mike Sessions, Brigham Young University - Idaho (BYU-I),
Luann Drolc Fortune, PhD, Faculty, Saybrook University,

9. Dr. Bentz’s work: Explored in several movements
Mike Sessions: Becoming Mature (1989) presented her integrated theory of development and maturation as influenced by childhood experiences on adult women. sociology and feminism
Carlos Belvedere: multiple contributions on music expression, appreciation and performance. music and arts
Michael Barber: reflections on Flesh and Mind: The Time Travels of Dr. Victoria Von Dietz (2013) (fiction). Philosophy, historical phenomenology.
Evi Beck: Transformative Phenomenology (with Rehorick, 2008) on applied research. phenomenology and somatics
Luann Fortune: Mindful Inquiry in Social Research (with Shapiro,1998) a framework for understanding cultures of inquiry in human science research. research and epistemology
A Circle Dance: To represent Dr. Bentz’s participatory action research in Mizoram, Dr. Beck will lead us in a somatic celebration of movement and community. India and yoga
Michael Barber, Professor of Philosophy at Saint Louis University graduated from Yale University in He is the author of 6 books, including the award winning biography of Alfred Schutz, The Participating Citizen, and over 70 articles. Most of his work concentrates on the phenomenology of the social world. At present he has completed a manuscript on the finite provinces of meaning in Alfred Schutz, by developing the provinces of religion and humor--which Schutz mentioned but never worked out.

10. Mindful Inquiry in Social Research with Jeremy Shapiro
Purpose:
Deliberately presented a different approach
Help beginners make choices about research approaches
Directed readers to reflect on:
who you are
what you want in your life
guiding you to your own scholarly niche
1998, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage
168 pp of text in 12 chapters
Approach: Offer rich ideas and then prescribe exercises to the reader to facilitate their private reflection

11. Comments from co-author Jeremy Shapiro
“Several things occur to me when I remember the process of writing Mindful Inquiry in Social research with Valerie. My favorite memory is our getting to the point in collaborating that one of us could start a paragraph and the other finish it. Or one could have the beginning and end of a paragraph and the other write the middle. It was a true merging of our minds.”

12. Mindful Inquiry: Tenets
Researcher is always at the center of the process of inquiry
Research will always be part of the researcher, as part of how they engage in the world
One’s research contributes to transformation of self, as a mindful person
Begin with
why research at all
what you believe about the nature of knowledge
what you believe about how to access knowledge

13. Mindful Inquiry: Described in Gadamer’s Hermeneutics
Level of Inquiry
Characteristics
Metaphor
Level 1
Examine, critique, and interpret relevant text in the appropriate context, revealing themes and patterns
View a herd of wild horses from a distance
Level 2
Examine how various texts interact, both individually and to create an overarching body of knowledge, remembering that the text were authored by humans, fallible and in context of their own individual history.
Inspect the wild horses in close proximity, observe and sense how they inter-relate
Level 3
Become an involved, active participant in the conversation
Jump onto the wild horse and ride along, guided by horse
What I learned from Valerie: a real scholar names their hermeneutic strategy according to the scholar followed

14. Level 1: Facticity View from a distance
Four Essential Characteristics Combined:
Buddhist concept of mindfulness
Phenomenology
Critical Theory
Hermeneutics

15. Spirals within a spiral
sixteen turns of the spiral present an “architectonic of professional integrity and responsibility.” (Backus, 2001) (see notes for specifics)

16. More from Jeremy…
Another important thing was the process of our discovering and inventing the ideas of mindful inquiry in the first place. We started out to write a rather different book than the one which we actually wrote. Our original intent was to edit and slightly expand for publication the study guide for students learning about research methodology that was then in use in Fielding's doctoral program in human and organization development. In the process of doing so we realized that the two of us had our own conceptions about the underlying principles of research, conceptions that were basically identical and that were not encompassed by that study guide. So we then began to converse about these conceptions, and they crystallized and presented themselves to us as mindful inquiry, strongly influenced by phenomenology, hermeneutics, critical theory, and Buddhism.

17. Structure
Chapters 1-2 orient researchers to the complex milieu: introduce Mindful Inquiry
Chapter 2 moves to the idea of communities’ embeddedness in their own traditions and historical situation
Chapter 3 introduces mindful inquiry and offers two reasons why it serves as the basis for scholarly practice.
Chapter 4 lists the fundamental characteristics of Mindful inquiry 
Chapters 5-6 prepare scholarly practitioners to carry out their research project:
Chapter 6 describes a new structural organization for science: cross-disciplinary
Chapters 7-11 introduce the various cultures of inquiry
Chapter 7: phenomenology
Chapter 8: hermeneutics and ethnography
Chapter 9: quantitative & behavioral inquiry, action, evaluation research
Chapter 10: comparative-historical inquiry and theoretical inquiry
Chapter 11: critical social science and critical social theory
•Chapter 12: Conclusion

18. Level 2: Amongst Mindful Scholars In close proximity, observe and sense how they inter-relate
Scholarly Foundations
Husserl: “to the things themselves”
Heidegger, Gadmer: “a new being”,“let everything human be spoken to us”
Buddha: “cultivate a boundless heart”
Heraclitus: “look diligently at [your] own mind”
Provide exercises for dialectical reflection: reader is the scholar
Present “cultures” and methods to research: many
Presentation is organized according to the levels suggested in the equine metaphor’s Three levels
Parsons developed foundations for Action Theory, early systems thinker for social sciences; Berger & Luckmann-social construction of reality

19. Generativity: “a ground breaking book”
Articles and books: 872 citations to Mindful Inquiry in” Google Scholar
Listed on multiple university course syllabi
Key note address: Nagata, A. L. (2006). Cultivating researcher self- reflexivity and voice using mindful inquiry in intercultural education. Journal of Intercultural Communication, 9,
Review: Backhaus, G. (2001). Mindful Inquiry in Social Research, VM Bentz and JJ Shapiro. Human Studies, 24(3),
”[authors were] sensitively aware of the multifarious cultural and intellectual/academic transformations … keenly apprised of the multiplication of perspectives and methods in academic research
cross-disciplinary and interdisciplinary education and to have
conducted research in multiple ways
marks a new form for both pedagogy and practice.

20. Level 3: Experiencing Mindful Inquiry An involved, active participant in mindfulness conversations, inspiring others
Somatically
Contemplatively

21. With Rigorous Scholarship
Comprehensive, neutral
Quantitative to qualitative
Empirical to historical and theorectical
Positivist to constructivist
Accurate, substantiated
Well-organized, clear, readable
Ethical: Addresses responsibilities of the researcher

22. Four primary functions of scholar-practitioner inquiry
Personal transformation
Improved professional practice
Generation of knowledge
Appreciation of the complexity, intricacy, structure and beauty of reality

23. Contemplative Inquiry … to be continued
Contemplative Social Research: Caring for Self, Being, and Lifeworld 
Edited by Valerie Malhotra Bentz, Ph.D., Fielding Graduate University and Vincenzo Giordino, Ph.D., University of Turin In press (fall release)
Chapter Twelve: Knowing as Being: Somatic Phenomenology as Contemplative Practice (Bentz)
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH SUMMIT Keynote: Who is the Researcher? Soma, Contemplation and Lifeworld in ‘Digitneyland’

24. Level 3: How Bentz defined me inspiring others
Three touch points:
Legitimized my topic and practitioner-based knowledge: Values and directives fortified my resolve to conduct exploratory, indepth research
Offered practical solutions for body-based inquiry
Shaped my role as advocate, activists, e.g. regulatory reform
Critical concepts for my development:
Authenticity
Importance of place and one’s environment
Role of the practitioner’s intimate topic knowledge & phronesis
Somatics as scholarship and beacon, Embodied Research
Modeled a voice of change in scholarship and academia
My Vision: to promote better understanding of integrative wellness, translational knowledge, and research based in culture of inquiry
Practical magic: body-scan exercises (Fortune, 2011), varied and increased exercise, and use my somatic markers, interembodied listening
Forward: include experienced practitioners in the research design, findings elucidate intersubjective elements of embodiment
somatic-based reflexivity holds immediate implications for all health care

25. A closing thought from Jeremy Shapiro
The third thing is something about our actual writing process. We had been working on the book transcontinentally with Valerie in Santa Barbara and me in New York. We would each other drafts of texts that we were working on, and then work on each other's texts. A point arrived when we realized that in order for this book to get written we were going to have to be at least for some period of time in the same place at the same time -- bodily comprehending in a way that cannot be captured by , phone calls, Skype, and so on. So I flew out to Santa Barbara and spent a week living in Valerie's house, during which time we spent every waking moment sitting and writing and then showing each other or discussing what we had written. In reality only a small portion of the book was written under those circumstances. But that shared time and space was in some way essential to the entire rest of the book getting written.

26. The wind horse.
A translation from the Tibetan lungta, it refers to the experience of raising a wind of delight and power, and then channeling that force to good fortune.

27. Join us in a circle dance