New Article: Hadar,Resisting (with) the Other

Hadar, Uri. “Resisting (with) the Other: A Tribute to Eyad el-Sarraj.” Psychoanalysis, Culture & Society (early view, online first).
 
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/pcs.2016.2
 
Abstract

Social and political oppression of a designated social group may be compared to repression in the individual domain. In both cases, there is an agency that acts as an oppressor or repressor, which agency arouses resistance in the oppressed. Resistance aims to liberate the oppressed/repressed from the subjugating agency. The question that I address in the present paper is whether there is any advantage in resisting oppression or repression jointly with the oppressor or the repressor. Such advantage may emerge if we deconstruct the separateness between the oppressor and the oppressed-repressor and repressed. Such a deconstruction gives rise to more hybrid notions of power relations. My paper examines these issues in two distinct domains: that of psychoanalysis (with special reference to therapy) and post-colonial theory (with special reference to the Israeli Occupation in the West Bank and Gaza). The results of my deconstruction are formulated in terms derived from the work of Melanie Klein, especially the concept of ‘part object’. I freely extend this term to refer to forms of partial subjecthood such as part subject, part resistance and part reconciliation and use these formulations to argue that resistance to repression/oppression in both therapy and the Occupation could better be done by collaboration between the related sides. This allows mutual reinforcement of the resisting effort. I illustrate these ideas by vignettes from the Palestinian-Israeli arena.

 

 

 

New Article: Even-Tzur, Israeli Social Unconscious and the Palestinian Nakba

Even-Tzur, Efrat. “‘The Road to the Village’: Israeli Social Unconscious and the Palestinian Nakba.” International Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies (early view; online first).

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URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/aps.1478

 

Abstract

This paper tackles the paradox inherent in Israeli attempts to silence the Palestinian Nakba: despite massive effacement efforts, the traces of the Nakba remain all-pervasive in Israeli culture and collective memory. Several silencing practices are described and discussed from a Freudian perspective, as instances of collective repression of anxiety provoking material. Furthermore, it is suggested that as far as the Nakba is concerned, this repression might be the result of collective perpetrator trauma. Finally, the paper offers several intriguing examples of “social traumatic symptoms”, which are understood as signs of the return of the repressed. According to LaCapra, collective post-traumatic symptoms serve as obstacles to the formation of just and responsible societies. Thus, the paper concludes with a discussion of the socially therapeutic value of the current analysis and its potential contribution to long term processes of collective working through and decolonization.

 

 

 

New Book: Koren-Maimon, Caregivers-Patients Relationships in Agnon (in Hebrew)

Koren-Maimon, Yair. Caregivers-Patients Relationships in the Works of S. Y. Agnon. Tel Aviv: Resling, 2015 (in Hebrew).

 

 

 

Yair Koren-Maimon’s book offers a new interpretation of some of the most famous works of Shmuel Yosef Agnon (“Tehilla,” “The Doctor’s Divorce”, “In the Prime of Her Life”, “Forever”, “A Simple Story”, “beyond the walls”, etc.), with affinity to a psychoanalytic-hermeneutical technique which focuses on relationships of patients and caregivers. In other words, the literary works is examined here as a therapeutic experience in its various forms. The book situates Agnon’s writings in a psychoanalytic context, all in the spirit of the “Reader Response” school, as well as the influence of post-structuralism.

One thing unites all these disciplines, approaches and theorists in psychology – the attempt to portray a comprehensive picture of the hidden world of the human soul, for the study of human personality and behavior. This book refers to various aspects of psychology and focuses primarily in the areas of psychopathology and psychotherapy within their literary context. In the spirit of the “Reader Response” school, and in light of the deconstructionist approach, the reading proposed here will read the Agnonic text against itself, in order to expose the “textual unconscious” whose meanings are different from those made explicit. This deconstructionist reading seeks to expose the therapeutic story hidden between the lines of the overt literary text visible. Thus a new text is created, one that is a merger of the original literary composition and the manner of reading the text by the interpreter. Perhaps this is the main purpose of the interpretation of literature.

 

DR. YAIR KOREN-MAIMON works on the study of literature, psychology, gender, and film. He teaches at the Gordon College of Education, and is a District Inspector for Literature for the Israeli Ministry of Education. His articles have been published in various platforms in Israel and abroad..

 

 

 

New Article: Bitan et al, Delusional Themes in Germany and Israel During the Twentieth Century

Bitan, Dana Tzur, Maria Christina Müller, Shlomit Keren, Israel Krieger, and Lars Hornuf. “War Within, War Outside: A Psychoanalytic Account of Delusional Themes in Germany and Israel During the Twentieth Century.” Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association 63.3 (2015): NP1-NP7.

 

URL: https://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0003065115594186

 

Excerpt
Psychoanalysis, through its myriad developments, has embraced the individual intrapsychic world as its main protagonist. Even so, from its bedrock, it has not ignored the contextual fields of culture, society, political forces, and historical events. Freud (1912–1913) saw similarities between the formation of civilization and individual psychic development, while laying the groundwork for later ideas such as the collective unconscious, tying together unconscious memories of historical events, personal trajectories, and the unseen discourse of social groups (Jung 1959). Psychoanalysts like Bion and Segal have drawn various analogies between the dynamic processes of the individual and those of the group (Bion 1946; Segal 1995). In line with these postulates, Bain coined the term socio-analysis (1999) to denote the adaptation of psychoanalytic concepts as underlying processes of social and cultural dynamics.

Within these mutual dynamics, some have pointed to the role of madness in the maintenance of social order. Foucault (1961) suggested that Cartesian dualist thinking, in addition to its use in differentiating and defining, created a hierarchy: privileging one category over the the other for purposes of domination, order, and control. Thus, the rational and “sane” society can maintain its positive characteristics, while binding its irrational, less accepted parts to the insane locked away in asylums. To put it differently, society uses projection and the splitting-off of madness as defense mechanisms aimed at maintaining the civilized order. Thus, the psychotic plays a unique role as the bearer of primitive and ominous elements.

 

 

New Article: Shehadeh, The 2014 War on Gaza: Engineering Trauma

Shehadeh, Said. “The 2014 War on Gaza: Engineering Trauma and Mass Torture to Break Palestinian Resilience.” International Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies 12.3 (2015): 278-94.

 

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/aps.1457

 

Abstract

This paper discusses the psychological sequelae of the recent Israeli war on Gaza, codenamed Operation Protective Edge, and its detrimental impact on the mental health of its Palestinian population. The author contends that deliberate measures by the Israeli military to induce feelings of helplessness, uncontrollability, horror, persistent life-threatening fear, and sleep deprivation against an entire besieged population for 50-days, constitutes mass torture. This policy of engineering mass trauma and torture through war to achieve political subjugation is framed as a paradigm shift in the Israeli colonial occupation of Palestine. Ramifications of this policy are discussed with regard to its potentially caustic effects on Palestinian resilience, and the serious mental health risks it poses, including complex traumatic reactions, identity distortions, severe psychopathology, and multigenerational transmission of trauma. Recommendations emphasize the need to fortify Palestinian resilience to protect individuals and communities from political violence and further mass trauma.

 

 

 

New Article: Cohen, Implicit Dehumanization and Anti-Arab Prejudice in Israeli Soldiers’ Narratives

Cohen, Shuki J. “Breakable and Unbreakable Silences: Implicit Dehumanization and Anti-Arab Prejudice in Israeli Soldiers’ Narratives Concerning Palestinian Women.” International Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies 12.3 (2015): 245-77.

 

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/aps.1461

 

Abstract

This paper illustrates an empirical paradigm for a minimally-biased characterization of the internal representations of female enemy members by male soldiers in the context of a military occupation. Using a combination of psycholinguistic and psychoanalytic tools, the study examined the associative structure of the language that was used by Israeli ex-soldiers in a large corpus of verbatim testimonies detailing their service in the Palestinian occupied territories. Since explicit dehumanization is rare in Israeli official discourse and in media- and political correctness-savvy occupying forces worldwide, this study examined implicit dehumanization through the non-conscious use of spontaneous linguistic choices. Using both computerized and quantitative linguistic analyses, this study tracked a particular pattern or word choice, presumed to capture implicit dehumanization based on a trans-disciplinary definition of the construct. Furthermore, to mitigate the potential confound between fear of the enemy and its dehumanization, this study focused on anecdotes concerning Palestinian women, as they pose less realistic threat to Israeli soldiers. Consistent with this study’s formulation of implicit dehumanization, Israeli soldiers tended to describe Palestinian women’s mental state in situational and behavioral terms (e.g. scream, make a mess, piss her pants, had a heart attack, etc.). In contrast, empathic inference – whereby the narrator extends their emotional understanding of themselves and other humans to the person whose emotional state they attempt to describe or understand – was often reserved in the testimonials only to the narrator and his fellow comrades. This evidence for implicit dehumanization is then discussed as a borderline-level defense mechanism within the larger context of both individual- and national-level anti-Arab prejudice in Israel.

 

 

New Article: Kemp, The West’s Relationship with Israel and the Palestinians

Kemp, Martin. “Collusion as a Defense against Guilt: Further Notes on the West’s Relationship with Israel and the Palestinians.” International Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies 12.3 (2015): 192-222.

 

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/aps.1466

 

Abstract

Returning to the theme of an earlier paper (Kemp 2011), the author explores the anxiety-ridden nature of debate about Israel-Palestine in the West. Rather than guilt per se, it is suggested that it is collective defences against guilt that are threatened when the issue is raised in public. The West’s dilemma has been to reconcile its commitment to universalist values with its support for Israel. Zionism’s objective of a Jewish state in an already inhabited country has led inevitably to repression and racism. The outcome has been collusion in a cover-up of the true nature of Israeli ideology and policy, akin to the collusion that takes place in a clinical relationship when a psychoanalyst fails to make a necessary interpretation to a patient in order to avoid discomfort or conflict. Among the many unfortunate consequences has been a failure to challenge the instrumentalization of the Holocaust, paradoxically now used to neutralize opposition to the subjugation of the Palestinians.

 

 

 

ToC: Tikkun 30.3 (2015)

Table of Contents for Tikkun 30.3 (2015):

 

Letters

• Readers Respond

  Tikkun (2015) 30(3): 3

Editorials

• RABBI MICHAEL LERNER

Repenting for What Israel Did to Gaza—Without Condoning the Wrongs Committed by Hamas

Tikkun (2015) 30(3): 5-7

• A Spiritual Practice of Forgiveness and Repentance: You Don’t Have to be Jewish to Benefit from the Spiritual Wisdom of Jewish High Holidays!

  Tikkun (2015) 30(3): 8-9

• War with Iran: The Disastrous Aim of Israel and the Republicans

  Tikkun (2015) 30(3): 10-12

Politics & Society

SAM ROSS-BROWN

• Net Neutrality and the Fight for Social Justice

  Tikkun (2015) 30(3): 13-14

• JESSICA BENJAMIN

Acknowledging the Other’s Suffering: A Psychoanalytic Approach to Trauma in Israel/Palestine

Tikkun (2015) 30(3): 15-16

• PETER GABEL

The Spiritual Dimension of Social Justice: Transforming the Legal Arena

Tikkun (2015) 30(3): 17-23

 

VANDANA SHIVA

• Rethinking Agriculture: Protecting Biodiversity Amid Climate Chaos

  Tikkun (2015) 30(3): 24-26

Special Section: Nonviolence in Foreign Policy

• NONVIOLENCE IN FOREIGN POLICY

  Tikkun (2015) 30(3): 27

  MICHAEL N. NAGLER

• Nonviolence Writ Large

  Tikkun (2015) 30(3): 28

  STEPHEN ZUNES

• Alternatives to War from the Bottom Up

  Tikkun (2015) 30(3): 29-30

  MATT MEYER

• Revolutionary Nonviolence: Statecraft Lessons from the Global South

  Tikkun (2015) 30(3): 31-33

  HELENA NORBERG-HODGE

Strengthening Local Economies: The Path to Peace?

Tikkun (2015) 30(3): 34-38

Rethinking Religion

JOY LADIN

• The Genesis of Gender

  Tikkun (2015) 30(3): 39-43

  ANA LEVY-LYONS

• Lessons from the Shadow Side of Football: Building the Religious Counterculture

  Tikkun (2015) 30(3): 44-45

  JOSEPH LUMBARD

• Love for the Prophet Muhammad: A Key to Countering Islamism and Islamophobia

  Tikkun (2015) 30(3): 46-48

Culture

Books

RAMI SHAPIRO

• A Scientific View of God

  Tikkun (2015) 30(3): 49-51

  A God That Could Be Real: Spirituality, Science, and the Future of Our Planet, by Nancy Abrams, Beacon Press, 2015

  AL HUNTER

• What Can Replace Prison?

  Tikkun (2015) 30(3): 51-53

  MARTHA SONNENBERG

• Jacob Chose Hospice: A Critique of Invasive End-of-Life Care

  Tikkun (2015) 30(3): 54-55; doi:10.1215/08879982-3140224

PHILIP TERMAN

The Poetry of a Jewish Humanist

Tikkun (2015) 30(3): 56-58; doi:10.1215/08879982-3140236

Poetry

Chana Bloch

• Babel

  Tikkun (2015) 30(3): 58-58

• Do You See Me

  Tikkun (2015) 30(3): 72

Tikkun Recommends

• Nobody Home: Writing, Buddhism, and Living in Places / Human Nature & Jewish Thought / Jews and Genes: The Genetic Future in Contemporary Jewish Thought / Balancing on a Planet: The Future of Food and Agriculture / The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know Is Possible / Capitalism: A Ghost Story/Restoring the Soul of the World: Our Living Bond with Nature’s Intelligence / Nobody Home: Writing, Buddhism, and Living in Places / Human Nature & Jewish Thought / Jews and Genes: The Genetic Future in Contemporary Jewish Thought / Balancing on a Planet: The Future of Food and Agriculture / The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know Is Possible / Capitalism: A Ghost Story/Restoring the Soul of the World: Our Living Bond with Nature’s Intelligence / Nobody Home: Writing, Buddhism, and Living in Places / Human Nature & Jewish Thought / Jews and Genes: The Genetic Future in Contemporary Jewish Thought / Balancing on a Planet: The Future of Food and Agriculture / The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know Is Possible / Capitalism: A Ghost Story/Restoring the Soul of the World: Our Living Bond with Nature’s Intelligence / Nobody Home: Writing, Buddhism, and Living in Places / Human Nature & Jewish Thought / Jews and Genes: The Genetic Future in Contemporary Jewish Thought / Balancing on a Planet: The Future of Food and Agriculture / The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know Is Possible / Capitalism: A Ghost Story/Restoring the Soul of the World: Our Living Bond with Nature’s Intelligence

  Tikkun (2015) 30(3): 2