Decolonizing Psychoanalysis

An Online Study and Discussion Group facilitated by

Lourdes Mattei, PhD & JoAnn Ponder, PhD

Instructional Level: Beginning to Advanced

A Note from the HPS Program Chair: This study group is intended to help fulfill licensure renewal requirements for continuing education in diversity and cultural competence. However, registrants should check with their licensing board if uncertain. ***** JoAnn Ponder   

Colonialism is defined as the domination of one nation by another, and the subjugation of its people politically and economically. The term is also used in a broader sense to refer to a range of subjective or interpersonal conditions involving domination, with “coloniality” referring to persistent domination, prejudice, silencing, and erasure experienced by some people at the hands of others (Swartz, 2023). According to Gaztambide and colleagues (2024), psychoanalysis is a prime example of colonial psychology, “mired in racist, sexist, queerphobic, and classist practices” (p. 321). 

This study group will explore the colonial attitudes and assumptions embedded in psychoanalytic theory and their implications for practice. Paradoxically, we will also consider the ways that psychoanalytic thinking both enacts and enlightens colonialist concepts and practices. We will consider our own attitudes and biases, and discuss ways of reframing theories, while imagining ways to modify our practices and find common ground. Registration is open to scholars and clinicians with a beginning to advanced level of understanding of psychoanalytic theory. Group members must attend both discussion sessions to earn CE credit. You must obtain your own copy of the book Psychoanalysis and Colonialism: A Contemporary Introduction by Sally Swartz (Routledge, 2023), but the other 2 assigned book chapters will be sent to participants.

Lourdes Mattei, PhD is Associate Professor Emeritus of clinical and psychoanalytic psychology at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts. She was born and raised in Puerto Rico. Since 1898 when the Island came under U.S. possession, the colonial status of the Island has persistently shaped and shadowed discourse(s) on politics and identity. After Lourdes received her undergraduate degree from the University of Puerto Rico, she came to the U.S. and earned her Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts/ Amherst. She has worked for many years as a psychoanalytic psychologist in a variety of settings such as academia, community mental health, private practice, and the theater. Her interests include psychoanalytic theory and practice, race/ethnicity, cross-cultural psychology, and Puerto Rican/Latinx culture. Lourdes was co-founder of the Psychoanalytic Studies Program at Hampshire College. Her writings focus on the contributions of psychoanalytic theories to the understanding of racial/ethnic dynamics in the therapeutic encounter. Her work in bilingual community mental health was featured in the PEP Web video, Psychoanalysis in El Barrio. Her article titled “La Cura: The Creation of Goodness in the Midst of Violence” was chosen as part of the Single Case Archive Project.

JoAnn Ponder, PhD is a psychologist-psychoanalyst who has a private practice in Austin, Texas. She previously spent many years working in inpatient and outpatient mental health settings. She completed her psychoanalytic training at the Center for Psychoanalytic Studies in Houston, where she formerly served on the faculty. She is an active member of the American Psychoanalytic Association, the Society for Psychoanalysis and Psychoanalytic Psychology (Division 39 of the American Psychological Association), and the International Association for Relational Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy. For the past 3 years, she has served as program chair for the Houston Psychoanalytic Society. JoAnn has presented papers at national and international psychoanalytic conferences and published on a variety of clinical and applied psychoanalytic topics. Her first published article examines the history and phenomenon of elitism and exclusion in the discipline of psychoanalysis.

Session 1 - May 13

Swartz, S. (2023). Chap. 1: Introduction. In Psychoanalysis and colonialism: A contemporary introduction (pp. 1-7). Routledge.

Swartz, S. (2023). Chap. 2: The colonial Freud and Jung. In Psychoanalysis and colonialism: A contemporary introduction (pp. 8-42). Routledge.

(optional) Brickman, C. (2017). Introduction. In Race in psychoanalysis: Aboriginal populations in the mind (pp. 1-14). Routledge.  

(optional) Brickman, C. (2017). Psychoanalysis and the colonial imagination: Evolutionary thought in Freud’s texts. In Race in psychoanalysis: Aboriginal populations in the mind (pp. 58-102). Routledge. 

Objectives

1. Define colonialism. 
2. Give 3 examples of colonial attitudes or assumptions in psychoanalytic theory, and 2 examples of colonialism in psychoanalytic practices.

Session 2 - May 20

Swartz, S. (2023). Chap 3: Anti-colonialism and psychoanalysis. In Psychoanalysis and colonialism: A contemporary introduction (pp. 43-79). Routledge.

Swartz, S. (2023). Chap. 4: Decolonizing psychoanalysis. In Psychoanalysis and colonialism: A contemporary introduction (pp. 80-109). Routledge.

(optional) Gaztambide, D. J. (2024). Chap. 3: The promises and limitations of relational-interpersonal psychoanalysis: Returning to Ferenczi’s legacy. In Decolonizing psychoanalytic technique: Putting Freud on Fanon’s couch (pp. 83-118). 

Objectives

1. Describe some clinical implications of Fanon’s anti-colonial psychoanalytic theory
2. Describe some goals and possible effects of decolonizing psychoanalysis.  

Additional References

Gaztambide, D. J., Feliciano-Graniela, F. E., Luiggi-Hernandez, J., & Escobar, E. V. M. (2024). Decolonizing psychoanalysis: Anti-Blackness, coloniality, and a new premise for psychoanalytic treatment. In L. Comas-Diaz, H. Y. Adames, & N. Y. Chavez-Duenas (Eds.), Decolonial psychology: Toward anticolonial theories, research, training, and practice (pp. 321-344). American Psychological Association.

Tummala-Narra, U. (2022). Can we decolonize psychoanalytic theory and practice? Psychoanalytic Dialogues, 32: 217-234.   

IMAGE of board game from Can Stock

APA Accreditation Statement

Houston Psychoanalytic Society is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Houston Psychoanalytic Society maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

HPS, through co-sponsorship with the Center for Psychoanalytic Studies, also offers approved CEUs for Texas state-approved social workers, licensed professional counselors, and marriage and family therapists.