Psychology Department
Professor Emerita
Ed.D., Harvard University
Fields: History and philosophy of psychology; cultural psychology; sociocultural studies of psychology/psychiatry; theories of personality
:skirschn@holycross.edu
Office Phone: 508-793-2589
Office: Beaven332
PO Box: 127A
Biography
Suzanne R. Kirschneris Professor of Psychology at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA. From 2013-2016, she also served as the Director of College Scholar Programs. She has been a Visiting Scholar in the Department of Critical Social/Personality Psychology at CUNY Graduate Center, the Department of the History of Science at Harvard, and the Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Development at Tufts. She has also been a Research Fellow in the Department of Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. She holds a bachelor's degree from Swarthmore College and received her doctorate from Harvard University, where she also taught. She is the author ofThe religious and romantic origins of psychoanalysis: Individuation and integration in post-Freudian theory(Cambridge University Press), as well as numerous articles on the interconnections between psychological theories/practices and sociocultural forces. Kirschner is co-editor (with Jack Martin) of The sociocultural turn in psychology The contextual emergence of mind and self(Columbia University Press, 2010). She serves on the editorial boards of several journals and book series, including Qualitative Psychology, Theory & Psychology, the Journal of Theoretical & Philosophical Psychology, and Palgrave Studies in the History & Theory of Psychology. Her current project,“The indispensable subject of psychology,” draws on psychological anthropology, sociocultural and literary theory, philosophy of mind and other fields to further develop and legitimize psychological approaches for studying subjectivity (complex first-person processes formed within sociocultural contexts).
Beginning in August 2018, Kirschner will serve as the President of the Society for Qualitative Inquiry (SQIP), which is Section 3 of Division 5 (Quantitative and Qualitative Methods) of the American Psychological Association (APA). In 2004-2005, she was President of the Society for Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology (APA Division 24). She is a Fellow of Divisions 5 and 24 of the APA.
Awards
Theodore Sarbin Award for Distinguished Contributions to Narrative Psychology (American
Psychological Association)
Arthur O’Leary Faculty Recognition Award (College of the Holy Cross)
Distinguished Service Award, Society for Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology (American Psychological Association)
Distinguished Service Award, Society for Psychological Anthropology (American Anthropologial Association)
L. Bryce Boyer Award in Psychoanalytic Anthropology, Society for Psychological Anthropology (American Anthropological Association)
Hoopes Prize for Excellence in Teaching (Harvard College)
Larsen Doctoral Research Fellowship (Harvard University)
Lois Morrell Poetry Prize (Swarthmore College. Judge: Robert Creeley).
Selected Publications
Kirschner, S.R., Levitt, H., Osbeck, L. & Hammack, P. (2023) A decade of qualitative
psychology: Reflections and recommendations from Associate Editors. Qualitative Psychology,
10 (3), 383-390.
Bhatia, S. & Kirschner, S.R. (2022a). Culture, Context, and Coloniality: Bhatia’s Decolonizing
Psychology and Kirschner’s Sociocultural Subjectivities In H. Macdonald, S. Carabbio-Thopsey
& D. M. Goodman (Eds.), Neoliberalism, Ethics and the Social Responsibility of Psychology:
Dialogues at the Edge. Routledge.
Kirschner, S.R. (2022b). Subjectivity. In B. Slife, F. Richardson, & S. Yanchar (Eds.) Routledge
international handbook of theoretical and philosophical psychology. Routledge.
Kirschner, S.R. (2020a) Beyond the overxxxֱized conception of the subject in psychology:
Desire, conflict and the problem of xxxֱ order. Theory & Psychology, 30 (6).
Kirschner, S.R. (2020b). Challenges for a psychological humanities of personhood. In J.
Sugarman & J. Martin, A humanities approach to the psychology of personhood. Routledge
Kirschner, S.R. (2019a). Indigenous psychology compared to what?: Some complexities of
culture, language and xxxֱ life. Journal of Theoretical & Philosophical Psychology, 39 (2).
Kirschner, S.R. (2019b). The indispensable subject of psychology: Theory,subjectivity and the specter of inner life: In T. Teo (Ed.), Re-envisioning theoretical psychology. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave/Macmillan.
Kirschner, S.R. (2015a). Subjectivity as socioculturally constituted experience. In J. Martin, J.Sugarman & K, Slaney (Eds.). Handbook of theoretical psychology. Wiley: Hoboken, NJ
Kirschner, S.R. (2015b). Inclusive Classrooms. In G. Scarlett (Ed.), Classroom Management: An A to Z Guide. Sage: Thousand Oaks, CA.
Kirschner, S.R. (2013). The many challenges of theorizing subjectivity.Culture & Psychology(19), 225-236.doi:
Kirschner, S.R. (2013). Diagnosis and its discontents: Critical perspectives on psychiatric nosology and the DSM.Feminism &Psychology(23), 10-28. doi:
Kirschner, S.R. (2012). Do therapists really ‘make up’ their patients?: Review of Mikkel Borch-Jakobsen’sMaking minds and madness. Theory &Psychology(22), 860-863. doi:
Kirschner, S.R. (2012). How not to 'other' the other: Scenes from a psychoanalytic clinic and an inclusive classroom.Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, 32(4), 214-229. doi:
Kirschner, S.R. (2011). Critical thinking and the end(s) of psychology.Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology. 31(3), 173-183 .doi:https://doi.org/10.1037/a0024698
Kirschner, S.R. (2010). Sociocultural subjectivities: Progress, prospects, problems.Theory &Psychology, 20(6),765-780.doi:
Kirschner, S.R. (2006). Psychology and pluralism: Toward the psychological studies.Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, Vol 26(1-2),1-17.doi:10.1037/h0091264