Does your institute have an anti-racism commitment? Interrogating anti-racism commitments in psychoanalytic institutes

Abstract

In this paper, I consider some ways that the psychoanalytic community is waking up to the racism and classism inherent in our field—in our theory, technique, training and practice structures, and institutions—and the ways that we need to begin to grapple with and engage in meaningful, symbolic, systemic and concrete changes in alignment with racial justice and anti-oppression principles. The questions that I ask include: What is anti-racism in the context of psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic training structures? What does the typical training milieu look like, and what changes need to be made in order for programming to reflect anti-racism and anti-oppression operating principles? What are some ideas about how best to proceed? I argue that anti-racism is a problematic and deceptive goal in institutions that are historically majority White and that center around race-blind work, and I offer some suggestions about how to bridge the gap between the racial awareness currently unfolding in our communities and anti-racism as a fundamental organizing principle.