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Psychoanalysis and Racism: Anti-Semitism
... In this article we use the word 'race' with inverted commas to indicate that the authors view 'race' as socially constructed, and that, as Rustin (2000, p. 183) states, it is both an empty category and can be one of the most destructive and powerful forms of social categorization. ...
Ethnically and culturally diverse groups increasingly undertake psycho-therapy, but insufficient attention is often paid to aspects of diversity. This article explores qualitative data from a mixed-method study, conducted at a UK psychoanalytic psychotherapy training institution, in which 24 participants from diverse backgrounds were interviewed individually about their experiences of clinical training. Participants were asked how their ethnicity had impacted on their training, and also how social class, sexual orientation, religion and gender might affect the training experience. The data were analysed thematically, and a principal theme that emerged was the way that psychoanalytical clinical trainings tend, for theoretical reasons, to explore 'internal' psychological issues at the expense of 'external' material issues such as ethnicity. Similar concerns arose in connection with social class, gender and sexual orientation, with a specific theme being that of trainees feeling silenced and finding it difficult to openly discuss various aspects of diversity.
Communication in intercultural settings often involves being exposed to unfamiliar cultural signifiers and the use of differing cultural schemas to interpret these signifiers. The continuing legacy of colonialism, together with inequalities of economic and political power among both nations and cultural groups within nations, create the potential for discourses of othering to negatively affect communication in culturally diverse contexts. This chapter reveals findings from an interpretivist study of how meanings of unfamiliar musics and languages were constructed by non-African members of four African music groups in Western Australia. Discourses of othering, together with discourses of inclusion, were observed in these meaning-making processes. The chapter relates the processes of construction of meaning observed in these contexts to the increasingly intercultural educational settings in Australia, as well as to other culturally diverse contexts.
Racialization is a concept that is theoretically underdeveloped. Although there has been an increased interest in Islamophobia since 9/11, it is very rarely discussed as racial in its nature. In this special issue on Islamophobia and the Racialization of Muslims scholars connect racism to Islamophobia. This issue situates racialization as a way to explain and understand Islamophobia, as racism towards a Muslim population. Through empirical studies, this issue uncovers the processes of racialization of Muslims and the rise of Islamophobia in both Europe and the USA. Case studies include the experiences of middle-class US Muslims; of white British converts to Islam; of young working-class British-Pakistani men; policing practices in Ireland; and the construction of Muslim identities through online comments about a reality television show. As well as identifying some issues specific to the nation, each case study also reveals the intersection of the racialization process with class and gender experiences.
abstract The author argues in this paper that, because of racism, there is an asymmetrical power relationship between black and white which saturates all aspects of society. Whilst this dynamic also permeates psychoanalytic training organizations the problem is frequently ignored or denied. This colour-blind position fails to see or acknowledge difference and hence the white individual is able to avoid the shame involved in owning any racist thought. For the black trainee an important aspect of their identity and experience is not allowed expression, making the training experience a difficult one. However, the paper argues that the inability to acknowledge and think about racism has implications, not only for potential black applicants and patients, but also for the professional organizations and their predominantly white members as this cordial form of racism prevents thought and does damage to both white and black.
Whilst the concept of 'race' has no basis in genetics or biology, the dynamics of racism pervade all aspects of modern life--including the consulting room. In this paper the relationship between a white therapist and a black patient is explored through an unbidden thought and a verbal slip that occurred in the course of the therapy. The amplification and examination of these unwanted 'slips' are used to shed light on the subtleties of the effects of difference in colour on the relationship. It is argued here that the interaction reflects and illuminates the asymmetrical relationship between 'black' and 'white' in modern-western society. This is then considered using the concepts of the cultural unconscious and social unconscious as ways of understanding the tenacity of racism in ourselves.
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