Brij Mohan, the person

Abstract

As someone who has known Dr Brij Mohan for many years, through both professional and personal relationships, I am deeply gratified to be allowed to write an introduction to this special issue of Journal of Comparative Social Welfare that honors this man. I will not discuss the contents of the articles that follow, nor will I describe the immense body of work developed by Dr Mohan over the years. Rather, I will talk about the person I know and, it is hoped, demonstrate how Brij Mohan, the person, is reflected in his professional scholarship. Dr Mohan is a complex person and it would be impossible to describe him fully in a few paragraphs. Nonetheless, I will call attention to those characteristics of Dr Mohan that are most striking to me and, I believe, to others who know him. The first thing one notices about Dr Mohan, when meeting him, reading his works, or hearing him lecture, is his profound intellect. I know of few people in the field of social work and social work education whose intellectual capacities are comparable with his. He is able to conceptualize at a high level, quickly grasping the meaning of complex theoretical and philosophical issues. He is then able to apply these concepts to the subject at hand and thereby develop new and deeper understanding of the matters under consideration. His writings are not ‘‘easy reads’’, but require the average person, who may not be gifted with Dr Mohan’s level of intellectual ability, to devote considerable time, effort, and study in order to the comprehend his messages. The reader who makes such commitment is eventually rewarded with an ‘‘Aha! Moment’’ – the time when the message and meaning of Dr Mohan’s writings become evident. The reader feels newly enlightened as a result of gaining new insights and perspectives from Dr Mohan’s scholarship. Another striking characteristic of Dr Mohan is his vast knowledge. Not only does he know and understand the extensive body of information within the field of social work, but his knowledge base includes the broader field of social science – and beyond. In personal conversations he is able to dredge up quotes and references from material he read years earlier – in diverse areas such as literature, history, poetry, science, philosophy, economics, and mathematics – and to apply these to the topic being discussed. Furthermore, in his scholarship he draws upon this deep reservoir of knowledge to illustrate, clarify, explain, interpret, or shed new light on the subject matter being considered. Dr Mohan obviously reads profusely and his knowledge base is always current. In his scholarly work he regularly refers to contemporary politics, current social issues such as global warming or the economic crisis, recent scientific discoveries, and world affairs. Only a person who is extremely gifted intellectually could read so widely, understand such diverse subject matter, and successfully apply concepts from other areas of intellectual inquiry to provide new understandings in the field of social work.