Events
Mondays 5.30-7.30pm
Venue
Psychoanalysis and Politics Group: This group provides a forum for the discussion of the relationship between psychoanalytic thought and politics - with the latter defined in the broadest sense to encompass the intersections between politics and culture. It meets on a monthly basis during term time (see dates below), with discussions based upon circulated readings. The group also presents invited speakers and stages panel debates. Attendance is open to anyone wishing to attend.
The group is convened through the JISCmail ‘Psychoanalysis and Politics' email list. Please contact Andrew Hill (a.hill@open.ac.uk) if you would like to be added to this list (or have any questions about the group), or you can register for the list via the JISCmail website:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=PSYCHOANALYSIS-NET-POLITICS
2008/09 theme: Security
The theme of the group's activities in the 2008-09 year is ‘Security'. A concern with questions of ‘security' has emerged as a defining feature of contemporary politics. Most obviously this is apparent in the attempts to counter the threats of terrorism and violence. At the same time questions of security have figured as central to a broader set of fears, ranging from the volatility of financial markets, to the pace of technological change, and the effects of globalisation and mass migration. These and other fears have been used as a justification for the ever greater regulation of everyday life. Indeed, whatever the field of concern, the threats posed to the individual subject's sense of their own security have repeatedly been foregrounded. Via this theme the group will explore the contribution psychoanalysis has to make in considering why security has become such a focus of concern at this specific moment in time, and what this suggests about the condition of politics and culture in the contemporary world.
Autumn semester, meeting dates and location:
In the 2008 autumn semester the group will meet:
Monday 20 October 5.30-7.30pm in room ST273
Monday 10 November 5.30-7.30pm in room ST274
Monday 15 December 5.30-7.30pm in room ST273
In the 2009 spring semester the group will meet:
Monday 23 February 5.30-7.30pm in room STB9:
- Mandy Merck, Professor of Media Arts at Royal Holloway, will be presenting a paper on 'Brother Animal's Long Tail: Freud, Tausk and the Research Assessment Exercise'.
The accompanying reading wil be Freud's 'Group psychology'.Monday 23 March 5.30-7.30pm in room ST276
Monday 27 April 5.30-7.30pm in room ST273
All meetings take place will take place in the Institute of Germanic and Romance Studies, Stewart House, Malet Street, WC1E 7HU.
Readings and further information about each of these sessions will be distributed by the JISCmail list.