By Víctor Doñas (Chile) and Eyal Rozmarin (USA)
It is perhaps true these days more than ever, that what happens in the field of the collective, the social, the political, demands our attention, both as thinkers and as clinicians. On April 2nd a new endeavor began, with the launching of a new IARPP interest group, Psychoanalysis and the Collective, along with a listserve dedicated to this group, IARPPCollective. This group has emerged as a place of reference, reflection, a resource for those of us who are interested in thinking about the relationship between the social and the individual subject. Thinking about it as a theoretical matter, a clinical dilemma, and a political question. Thinking about it as individuals and as a discipline dedicated to making people’s lives better. The extent to which our discipline demands social thinking, social awareness, social action, this question is our purpose. Or at least one of them. And we hope for our group to engage in a truly collective effort.
In this initial period we are sharing the experience of learning a little about each other, what interests us in this domain, what haunts us, what paralyzes us, and what relevant groups we belong in happily or reluctantly. We have realized the multiple singularities reflected in the deep history of many colleagues, with often a bewildering sense of unique and at the same time common history. And we find ourselves sharing a deep uncertainty toward what we are forming, trying to draw an initial map and chart our way forward through this challenging collective riddle. It is challenging because the social-political is inside us–is us–revealing its presence everywhere in our practice and daily lives. It is also challenging because we are trying to do it as a collective. We are trying to see how an ephemeral group of hundreds can work together. This is a task for the long run.
We are trying to form a thinking group rather than a marketplace of opinions regarding the vast range of socio-political issues that may concern each of us. We hope to be able to facilitate genuine connections and the potential for collective work. The listserve might be open as a forum for the discussion of a particular question from time to time as we hear a sustained wish for doing so, and as we get our bearings.
We are aware of language barriers that could prevent us from having as full a conversation as we want to have. And so we are hoping to be able, with your help, to begin addressing this challenge. We plan to work toward facilitating a bi- to multi-lingual conversation. That is one example of the challenges to come, with awakenings and difficulties ahead of us. But our hopes ride on this uncertainty, and in the belief that, as the poet Rilke says, and as some of us have already expressed, “wherever we are, a place is born.”
We want to thank the IARPP board, IARPP presidents Steven Kuchuck and Chana Ullman, and the tireless Valerie Ghent and Elisa Zazzera, for making this happen. We are grateful to the members of the newly formed committee and to everyone who has joined and shared thus far.
If you would like to join the group and the IARPPCollective e-list, log into the IARPP Members Intranet (the link in upper right corner of www.iarpp.net).
From the Members Intranet Welcome page
– Go to the Directory drop down menu, and choose My Profile
– Go to the Features drop down menu, and choose E-lists
– Under E-Lists Available to Join, click Subscribe to the IARPPCollective
– Click check box for ‘Email delivery to receive posts to your email.
We hope to see you there.
Eyal Rozmarin & Víctor Doñas
Eyal Rozmarin, PhD
Email Eyal Rozmarin
Víctor Doñas, MD
Email Víctor Doñas
