The Problem of thinking in Black and White: Race in the South African Clinical Dyad

The Problem of thinking in Black and White: Race in the South African Clinical Dyad" (PD, 2017: 20-35).

Author: Yvette Esprey

Open date: May 21, 2018

Close date: June 3, 2018

Moderators: Adrienne Harris (USA) Rina Lazar (Israel) Mitchel Becker (Israel)

Panelists: Rotimi Akinsete (Britain) Komal Choksi (USA) Francisco J. Gonzalez (USA) Uri Hadar (Israel) Cathy Hicks (Australia) Anne Marie Maxwell (Mexico) Eyal Rozmarin (USA) Andrew Samuels (Britain) Mark Thrope (New Zealand) Cleonie White (USA)


We are pleased to announce IARPP’s next online colloquium. It is based on Yvette Esprey’s paper entitled, “The Problem of thinking in Black and White: Race in the South African Clinical Dyad” (PD, 2017: 20-35).
The colloquium will take place via email from Monday, May 21 through Sunday, June 3, 2018.
The IARPP Colloquia Committee found this paper as a good introduction to IARPP’S coming conference in NY – Hope and Dread: Therapists and Patients in an Uncertain World.
Esprey argues that race, as it presents itself within the clinical dyad as an aspect of the relationship between therapist and patient, has scarcely been written about from an experience-near perspective within the South African context. This paper focuses on the difficulty of speaking and writing about race. It contends that race as a construct and as an aspect of subjectivity has the potential to interrupt the therapist’s capacity to think, in Bionian terms, and to prevent entry into the reverie that is crucial to the creation of an analytic third.
We are looking forward to broad international participation in this discussion among the author, the panelists, and the larger community.

All IARPP members are included in colloquia – there is no need to register.

CE Credits:
The program is free of cost to all IARPP members.

For psychologists: IARPP is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. IARPP maintains responsibility for this program and its content. This program is valid for 3 CE Credits.

For social workers: International Association for Relational Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy (IARPP) is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers #SW-0202. This program is valid for 3.0 CE Credits.Approval by the National Association of Social Workers is pending.

For information about learning objectives for this program, or if you have any questions about Continuing Education Credits, please contact Lucia Lezama at LLezama@iarpp.net