Lecture I: Politics on the Couch

Abstract for Professor Srinivasan's lectures: Amia Srinivasan's lectures will explore the intersection of psychoanalysis and politics, tracing how thinkers from Freud to contemporary feminists have grappled with the potential of psychoanalysis to liberate not just individuals but societies. In her first lecture, Srinivasan will examine whether psychoanalysis can inform political discourse, reconcile justice with universal trauma, and balance structural critique with individual complexity. Her second lecture will revisit Freud’s controversial shift from seduction theory to the Oedipus Complex, questioning the implications of privileging psychic reality over objective truth. Together, the lectures will ask whether psychoanalysis can deepen our understanding of trauma, identity, and freedom in political life.

Commentators:
Two commentators follow each lecture (all commentators are with us both days): Cheshire Calhoun, Professor of Philosophy Emerit, Arizona State University; Dagmar Herzog, Distinguished Professor, History, Social Welfare, Women’s and Gender Studies, City University of New York; Mark Lilla, Professor of Humanities, Columbia University; Jacqueline Rose, Professor of Humanities and the London Critical Theory Summer School, Birbeck, University of London.