Harry J.G. Kempen (February 9, 1937 – March 26, 2000In memoriam Harry Kempen NCPG - Nijmegen Cultural Psychology Group August 2000) was a Dutch cultural psychologist, and associate professor at the Nijmegen Cultural Psychology Group (NCPG) of the Radboud University Nijmegen, known for his work with Hubert Hermans on the Dialogical self theory.Rose, Nikolas. Inventing our selves: Psychology, power, and personhood. Cambridge University Press, 1998.Pedersen, Paul. A handbook for developing multicultural awareness. American Counseling Association, 2000.
Life and work Kempen was born in Nieuwenhagen, in southeastern Limburg, Netherlands. After his graduation he started his academic career as researcher at the Psychological Laboratory of the Radboud University Nijmegen in the 1960s.Register van lopend onderzoek in de sociale wetenschappen, 1967-1968. (1968) p.118 Kempen's early research had focussed on "The strategy of peace in sociological perspective",International Peace Research Newsletter. Vol. 1-4 (1963). p. 16 and he published another article about "Psychology and the problems of war prevention and peacebuilding".H. J. G. Kempen 'Psychologie en de problemen van oorlogspreventie en vredesopbouw' in Annalen van het Thijm- genootschap 1966 (54)
In 1972, he edited his first publication with Vimala ThakarVimala Thakar, H.J.G. Kempen, F.G. Middelman, J.M. van Kerkoerle Toespraken in de Nijmeegse Universiteit II: toespraken gehouden op 9 en 10 november 1972 in het Psychologisch Laboratorium van de Universiteit te Nijmegen. Stichting Vimala Thakar, 1975 In the 1972 unpublished article, entitled "From the cabinet of exotic comportment to a general theory of behavior", he gave a sketch of his "cultural psychology, that was critical of psychology itself, but at the same time stimulating all of us to look beyond culture." In the 1970s Kempen also joined the Department of Culture and Religion Psychology, where he lectured in Cultural psychology until the late-1990s. Among his students were Jürgen Straub, German Professor of intercultural communication,;Jürgen Straub (2006) Pursuit Of Meaning: : Advances In Cultural And Cross Cultural Psychology. p. 132 Hub Zwart, Professor of Philosophy at the Radboud University Nijmegen;"Prof. Dr. Hub (H.A.E.) Zwart – Curriculum Vitae " at filosofie.science.ru.nl, 2013. Accessed 19.05.2015. Paul Voestermans (who in 1970 was the only student placed under Kempen's supervision; on Kempen's initiative he joined the University of Colorado in June, 1971 till November,1972 to study with Richard Jessor at the Institute of Behavioral Science, CU, Boulder, Colorado. PhD 1976: Jacques Janssen & Paul Voestermans, De Vergruisde Universiteit.) and Theo Verheggen (PhD 2005).Verheggen, Theo. Culture Alt Delete: On the Misperception of Culture in Psychology. Open Universiteit Nederland, 2005.
In the 1980s, Kempen conducted more general research in health behaviour in the Netherlands,H.J.G. Kempen, S. van der Linden (1981). Gezondheidsgedrag in een Nederlandse quota-steekproef. Nijmegen : Katholieke Universiteit which resulted in the 1993 book about "Western standards in mental health."F.A.M. Kortmann, H.J.G. Kempen & H. Procee (1993) Westerse normen in de geestelijke gezondheidszorg. Baarn : Ambo He also wrote some biographical articles for the "Biographical Dictionary of Netherlands",Schöffer, Ivo. Biografisch woordenboek van Nederland. Vol. 2. Nijhoff, 1979. and a publication about "The Nijmegen cultural psychology."Kempen, H., Paul Voestermans & V.J. Welten. De Nijmeegse cultuurpsychologie. Psychologisch Laboratorium, Universiteit Nijmegen, 1991.
In the 1990s, Kempen and Hubert Hermans developed a new approach in cultural psychology around the concept of the dialogical self.Ralph L. Piedmont, Andrew Village (2009) Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion. Vol. 20. p. 117 In 1993, they published the seminal work The dialogical self: Meaning as movement, and published several articles in American Psychologist, Journal of Personality and Theory & Psychology. Kempen experienced depression in the later years of his career. In 2000, he died in Nijmegen four days before his retirement from the Radboud University. A colleague described him as the "personification of cultural psychology," reflecting his central role in the development of the field at the university.Harry Kempen Genootschap van Cultuur- en Godsdienstpsychologen, Krant Maart 2002
Selected publications Kempen, H., P.P.L.A. Voestermans & V.J. Welten. De Nijmeegse cultuurpsychologie. Psychologisch Laboratorium, Universiteit Nijmegen, 1991. Kortmann, F.A.M., H.J.G. Kempen & H. Procee. Westerse normen in de geestelijke gezondheidszorg. Baarn: Ambo, 1993. Hermans, Hubert J.M., and Harry JG Kempen. The dialogical self: Meaning as movement. Academic Press, 1993. Kempen, H. (2002). Toward a universal psychology of the self; written legacy of Harry Kempen, cultural psychologist. Nijmegen: Sectie Cultuur- en Godsdienstpsychologie van de Katholieke Universiteit Nijmegen.
Articles, a selection: Hermans, Hubert J., Harry J. Kempen, and Rens J. Van Loon. "The dialogical self: Beyond individualism and rationalism." American psychologist 47.1 (1992): 23. Hermans, Hubert JM, Trix I. Rijks, and Harry JG Kempen. "Imaginal dialogues in the self: Theory and method." Journal of Personality 61.2 (1993): 207–236. Kempen, Harry JG. "Mind as Body Moving in Space Bringing the Body Back into Self-Psychology." Theory & Psychology 6.4 (1996): 715–731. Hermans, Hubert JM, and Harry JG Kempen. "Moving cultures: The perilous problems of cultural dichotomies in a globalizing society." American psychologist 53.10 (1998): 1111.
References
External links In memoriam Harry Kempen by The Nijmegen Cultural Psychology Group