Time/Date:12:00 PM to 2:00 PM (BST), Saturday 11 May 2019
Location: Central Hall, 2 West Tollcross, EH3 9BP Edinburgh, United Kingdom (View Map)
Political Violence and the Dialectics of Hope
12.30 pm, Saturday 11 May 2019
Central Halls, 2 West Tollcross, Edinburgh EH3 9BP
Refreshments, included in the ticket price, will be available from 12 noon
Tickets: £15 Discounted rate: £7.50(student, unwaged, friend of Sutherland Trust)
Most liberal-minded people speak up for non-violence and admire Gandhi. Therapists are usually aligned with this ideal. But is it a psychologically sustainable position? Are there circumstances in which political violence is, to use Hannah Arendt’s word, ‘rational’? In this fascinating and thought provoking lecture the speaker will argue that working through ambivalences concerning this kind of thinking may offer us a firmer and more realistic foundation for hope in times when it is difficult to feel hope in relation to politics. This lecture will provide insights about Andrew’s work and his methods – how he draws on a wide range of approaches to psyche, including post-Jungian, relational psychoanalytic and humanistic ideas; but roots his work in citizens’ lived experience, and in what can be learned from therapy work carried out with political awareness. While Andrew does not disguise his background in progressive and left-wing politics and his commitment to diversity and equality, he remains open-minded and celebrates many different takes on social and political issues.
Andrew Samuels is recognised internationally as one of the foremost political commentators and theorists from the perspectives of psychotherapy and depth psychology. He works as a consultant with political leaders, parties and activist groups in several countries, including the United States. He also consults to the NHS. Andrew is a Training Analyst of the Society of Analytical Psychology, in private practice in London, and Professor of Analytical Psychology at the University of Essex. He was Chair of the UK Council for Psychotherapy and one of the two founders (with Judy Ryde) of Psychotherapists and Counsellors for Social Responsibility.
His many books have been translated into 21 languages, including: Jung and the Post-Jungians (1985); A Critical Dictionary of Jungian Analysis (1986); The Father (1986); Psychopathology (1989); The Plural Psyche(1989); The Political Psyche (1993); Politics on the Couch (2001); Persons, Passions, Psychotherapy, Politics(2014); Relational Psychotherapy, Psychoanalysis and Counselling: Appraisals and Reappraisals (edited with Del Loewenthal, 2014). His latest books are A New Therapy for Politics? (2015) and Analysis and Activism: Social and Political Contributions of Jungian Analysis (edited with Emilija Kiehl and Mark Saban, 2016). A number of his articles, lectures and videos are available on:www.andrewsamuels.com
Please book via Eventbrite. Payment on the door will be accepted (subject to availability)