38th Annual Spring Meeting - Division of Psychoanalysis - Generations: Ghosts & Guardians

NOT A SOCIETY EVENT

Please see the Division of Psychoanalysis (39) Website

“The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” —William Faulkner

Moving through time, each generation passes forward values, traditions and conflicts. How do generational forces cast their shadow upon the future? From nursery to grave, ghosts and guardians are transmitted across generations.

Psychoanalysis is unique in its dedication to engaging generational hauntings. Ghosts may terrorize within transference-countertransference and dreams or manifest as dissociated self-states. Guardians shepherd from without and within, supporting growth as well as offering ideals and models from which to learn. Memory, reflection, and internalization provide opportunities to transform conflictual generational forces into mourning and understanding. Where ghost was, guardian shall be.

New Orleans has always been an intersection defined by the heritages and struggles of its generations: tradition is alive, cemeteries are architectural wonderlands, and funerals are parades. Our host city invites discussion of the traumatic legacies of slavery and colonization embedded within its foundation as well as the more recent tragedies and regenerations in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Possessed by capacities for imagination and play, the Big Easy is committed to multigenerational expressions of art, music, and revelry that provide resilience as well as encourage the opportunity for greater community and commonality. 

We invite you to journey to New Orleans during its tricentennial year and share your experiences of generations, ghosts, and guardians within psychoanalysis, the mind, and the world. 

Keynote Speakers

• Lynne Layton, PhD

• Kirkland Vaughans, PhD