Encounterism: Finding Joy and Wonder in Real Life

by Andy Field

Encounterism is a joyous immersion into the everyday pleasure and shared humanity we stand to lose in an increasingly digital world. Andy Field explores both different kinds of and different venues for human from the hairdresser's to the cinema, from nightclubs to eateries, shops staffed by people and free-form urban parks; these are the everyday yet invaluable spaces that allow for human encounters that enrich our lives.

Field writes with tenderness and wit born out of twenty years as a performance artist creating scenarios in which people are encouraged to see and interact with each other afresh. In Encounterism he not only examines how we physically encounter both strangers and friends - in all our human grace and awkwardness - but builds to a manifesto for the importance of real-world interaction.

A rousing reminder that our cities, our residential streets and workplaces, must still allow for the possibility of spontaneity and shared, in-person joy.

247 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 4, 2023

About the author

Andy Field is Professor of Child Psychopathology at the University of Sussex. He has published over 70 research papers, 27 book chapters, and 17 books mostly on child emotional development and statistics.

He is the founding editor of the Journal of Experimental Psychopathology and has been an associate editor and editorial board member for the British Journal of Mathematical and Statistical Psychology, Cognition and Emotion, Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review and Research Synthesis Methods.

His ability to make statistics accessible and fun has been recognized with local and national teaching awards (University of Sussex, 2001; the British Psychological Society, 2007), a prestigious UK National Teaching Fellowship (2010), and the British Psychological Society book award (2006). He adores cats, and loves to listen to and play very heavy music. He lives in Brighton with his wonderful wife Zoë and Fuzzy the cat.