About Dennis Fox

Academic. Writer. Activist. Photographer.

When possible I combine my overlapping interests, but often I go off in different directions. In general I aim more for breadth - linking different things together - than for digging deeper and deeper into a narrower subject. I used to have a blog (no longer functional) and still have a photo site (occasionally current).

In 1998 I retired early from a job as professor of legal studies and psychology at the University of Illinois at Springfield (formerly called Sangamon State University, a much more interesting place). Much of my academic work addresses the interconnections among psychology, law, and justice. Using a perspective building on anarchism and critical psychology, I'm especially concerned about mainstream psychology's support for an unjust status quo. The second edition of my co-edited book Critical Psychology: An Introduction was published in 2009.

My academic credentials, complete publication details, and related information are listed in my curriculum vita (pdf file).

Formal Education of various kinds

Public Schools, Brooklyn, NY
John Wilson Junior High School, Brooklyn, NY
Stuyvesant High School, New York, NY
Year-In-Israel Program, Jerusalem (college-level coursework during "Young Judaea Year Course")
Brooklyn College (BA psychology)
Michigan State University (MA & PhD social psychology)
Northeastern University (certificate, Emergency Medical Technician)
University of Nebraska-Lincoln (post-doc in psychology and law)
Sangamon State University (photography coursework)
Miksang Institute (contemplative photography)

Jobs and Other Gigs

Longest job: 1988-2005, legal studies and psychology associate professor, University of Illinois at Springfield

Others: Folk dance instructor/performer (a very long time ago), camp counselor, high school equivalency instructor, Social Security claims representative, unemployment advocate, temp worker (clerical and other jobs), coder, messenger, embossing press operator (I really liked this one), emergency medical technician (ambulance attendant), editorial writer, teaching assistant, community college adjunct instructor, disability examiner, postdoc student, newspaper columnist, writer, photographer, webmaster, editor.

Political History

Young Judaea - Mid-1960s
- Brooklyn Region Administrative Vice-President. During my high school years, Young Judaea introduced me to social justice within a utopian socialist framework. I'm grateful for that, but my political views about Israel and Palestine have shifted pretty far since then.
Gar'in HaShachar 1968-1973
- Co-founder & initial coordinator of group of Americans planning to start a new kibbutz. I left Israel after five months with the group (my faction lost). Those who remained founded Kibbuz Ketura.
American Federation of Government Employees
- Union representative in the Social Security office where I worked, 1974-75
Boston-area anarchist/direct action/anti-nuclear groups, 1976-1981
- New Moon, Hard Rain, Boston Clamshell Alliance, Clams for Democracy, Coalition for Direct Action at Seabrook (CDAS) - Someday I'll try to write more about this.
Georgians Against Nuclear Energy & Atlanta Coalition Against Registration & the Draft, 1980
MSU Jews for Social Justice 1983-84
SEIU/AFSCME Alliance (Boston) 1985-86
University Professionals of Illinois 1988-1998
- UIS chapter past secretary/newsletter editor/webmaster
- My website's section on my time at UIS is out of date. UIS used to be called Sangamon State University; I've written about its mainstreaming and takeover by the University of Illinois.
Assorted food coops, ad-hoc environmental and anti-war groups.
- Activist at large
RadPsyNet : The Radical Psychology Network 1993-present
- co-founder, archivist, webmaster, former coordinator/treasurer/editor/....
Coalition for Authentic Reform of Education, BrooklineCARE, other efforts to oppose corporate-sponsored high-stakes testing 2000
Boston-Area Psychologists for Peace and Justice 2001
Brookline Peaceworks 2002
Visions of Peace with Justice in Israel/Palestine (later the Boston chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace and part of American Jews for a Just Peace) 2003-2008
Center for Democracy and the Constitution Advisory Board 2004
Israel/Palestine Political/Personal/Academic Visits (2004/05, 2006, 2008, 2016)
Network for a New Culture - 2010-present
Occupy! - 2011-2012
Intermittent rally participation during my nomadic wanderings, including Black Lives Matter actions in Portland 2020 and on
Jewish Voice for Peace - 2023-2024

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Miscellaneous Personal

I was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1949, led an academic life in the Midwest, and have lived on and off in Boston since the mid-1970s. I've also lived other places for school, jobs, politics, family, adventure, and over the past decade have traveled abroad a lot. Details:

1949: In Brooklyn, I lived on Ocean Parkway, then in Brownsville, then Canarsie

1966-67: A year in Israel after high school when I was a teenage Zionist, long before rethinking my sense of the situation

1967-1970: Back in Brooklyn, for Brooklyn College

1970s: East Lansing, Michigan (grad school at Michigan State, 1970-72); Israel again (kibbutz); Newburgh, NY; Boston (South End, Jamaica Plain, Allston); Somerville, Mass.; Red Hook, NY; Brooklyn again (Park Slope 1977-78); Los Angeles; Somerville again, for the 1979 Seabrook occupation attempt

1980s: Atlanta; Somerville yet again; East Lansing one more time and then Lansing (back in grad school); Cambridge, Mass.; Lincoln, Nebraska (post-doc at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln)

1988-1998: Springfield, Illinois (Sangamon State University/University of Illinois at Springfield)

Since 1998: back in Boston for the fifth time.

Fall 2009: In Toronto for the fall semester to teach a seminar at York University

2010: back to Boston - in 2012-2013 in East Boston.

2013-2015: Wandering around the US and parts of Europe - Norway, Finland, the Baltic States, Berlin, Portugal, Spain. In between, back in East Boston.

2015 October - 2016 May - around the world from Budapest southward to Greece, Israel/UAE/Oman, Nepal, Vietnam, Hong Kong, and Shanghai on way to Okinawa.

2016-2019: Mostly rotating through Boston, Atlanta, and Portland, Oregon.

2020-2024: Mostly in Portland, Oregon, on and off.

My early retirement resulted from disability-related fatigue. As these things go my multiple sclerosis is mild, not visible, and not progressing. Ironically, I used to work for the Social Security Administration's disability program; the paper I later wrote about the politics of subjective disability evaluation is the most-visited page on this website. So far I've only written briefly about my experience on the other side.

I have three children from two marriages -- a 20-something daughter and two sons in their 40s. And two granddaughters!

No longer married, I'm back in the world of ethical non-monogamy. The terms polyamory and relationship anarchy are generally consistent with my evolving relationships. My 2001 essay about being a married anarchist needs an update.

I used to be a vegetarian, for a variety of moral, nutritional, ecological, political, and financial reasons. They're all good reasons, but I'm no longer a vegetarian.

Someday I'd like to abandon the Internet. Not yet.

I remain in transition. Always.

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What am I up to now?

Intermittent academic work. Writing. Politics. Exploring alternative cultures designed to help me learn alternative ways of being.

And especially Photography (see interview).

Since 2013 I've gone back and forth between wandering the US and wandering abroad. I continue to work on my various projects as best I can, while exploring new directions along the way.

Kid Update

Avram, Rie, and my granddaughters Airi and Maaya are in the US for a while.

Milo pursues a variety of pursuits while supporting himself in traditional struggling-artist fashion.