Online: The Madness of Racism

3 CE credits for licensed psychoanalysts and social workers

Registration is closed

​CE Credit:  3 CE credits for licensed psychoanalysts and social workers

Description:  Racism both produces madness and is an expression of it.  The fear of difference takes many forms; this workshop will focus on the intrapsychic processes that give rise to racism and the psychic impact it has.  This two-part workshop, using content from Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye and Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man, will examine the role of projective identification in racism and how the narcissistic defense can be aroused in response to it.

Learning Objectives:  Participants will be able to (1) describe how projective identification is used to maintain racist social hierarchies and (2) describe how victims of racism may utilize the narcissistic defense. 

Presenters:  Tracy D. Morgan, LCSW-R, is a psychoanalyst on the faculty of the Center for Modern Psychoanalytic Studies and is the founding editor of the podcast New Books in Psychoanalysis.  Jacqueline Ambrosini, LCSW-R, and Lexa Rosean, MA, are advanced candidates in psychoanalysis at the Center for Modern Psychoanalytic Studies.

Readings: Please come to the first class having read the prologue and chapter one from Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison and Paul Geltner’s essay on Projective Identification. 

For the second class please have read in full The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison [purchase book from Barnes and Nobel, or ebook from Google, Apple, or Kindle] and Hyman Spotnitz’s essay on The Narcissistic Defense.  Directions to access Paul Geltner’s essay on Projective Identification, and Hyman Spotnitz’s essay on The Narcissistic Defense, will be sent by email to those who register.