Curriculum Vitae

Dr. Mathai Fenn, an introduction

This page is created mainly to assist those who have to officially introduce me to an audience. Feel free to pick and choose anything from this page. 

 

There are many ways to describe anyone, on this page, the focus is on the professional aspects of Dr. Mathai Fenn’s  life. It also has a link to a concise Bio (in PDF) available for download, at the bottom of the page.  Much more detailed information can be found in his detailed CV which is available on demand. Another way to get  to know him better is to simply do a search on Google with his name, since there is only ONE “Mathai Fenn” on the Internet.

Academics:

After his BA from UC College in 1984, and MA from the Department of Psychology, Kerala University Campus, Trivandrum in 1986, he completed his Ph.D. from the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at IIT Bombay. His Ph.D. focussed on the Philosophy of Social Science, Qualitative Research and Health Care. His thesis was on the psychological aspects of healing from two different sites, one a site of western medicine and the other a site of religious healing. It also touched upon philosophy of science, especially the philosophical underpinnings of social sciences.

Dr. Fenn was a full time faculty at XLRI Jamshedpur for about a decade (1998-2007). He has also lectured at several universities in India and abroad, including American University of Armenia, SP Jain, Dubai, IIM-Kozhikode, IIM-Calcutta, IIM-Bangalore, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, among others. Currently he is Principal Consultant at The Talk Shop a practice that explores and promotes creativity and innovation within organisations, teams and individuals.

For short periods he has also worked as a stuntman in a movie, a door to door salesman and as Santa Claus at a retail store in Mumbai.

Family:

His father, Dr Baker Fenn was a Psychoanalytically oriented Psychiatrist who mainly practised in Kottayam, India. His mom had a graduate degree in Social Work. His wife Jessy, has a Ph.D. in Psychology. Her thesis explored the existential dimension of psychology (meaning of life). His older son Amit, is a biologist and is currently at LMU, Munich while his younger son, Rohit is completing his undergraduate studies at Sterling College, VT, USA.

 

Interests:

Mathai has practiced various martial arts for about fifteen years and has an interest in Philosophy and Spirituality, both oriental and occidental. He describes himself as a Cognitive Psychologist and has a long term interest in how ideas are formed and transmitted in communities. Some key words and authors that describe his interests

  1. Cognitive psychology – information processing, gestalt approach, artificial intelligence, learning systems
  2. Philosophy of Science – Natural Science vs Human Science (Wilhelm Dilthey)
  3. European Critical Theory – Discourse Theory, Postmodernism and Hermeneutics
  4. Spiritual traditions and cosmologies that are based on non-dualism (Immanence)
  5. Psychoanalysis and Interpretative Understanding of Human Behaviour
  6. Philosophy of Science – Natural Science vs Human Science (Wilhelm Dilthey)

At the Talk Shop, he focuses on narratives and new methods of understanding and learning that are appropriate for the information age we live in.

Click here to view / download a brief bio of Mathai Fenn as a pdf file.