BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 CALSCALE:GREGORIAN PRODID:adamgibbons/ics METHOD:PUBLISH X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT1H BEGIN:VEVENT UID:23276@offbeat.amsterdam SUMMARY:​Psycho-Politics: Authoritarianism and the Return of the Repressed​ DTSTAMP:20260601T215644Z DTSTART:20260618T150000Z DESCRIPTION:To what extent can psychoanalysis and critical social psycholog y help us\nunderstand the current political conjuncture\, where rising fas cisms around the\nworld increasingly appear as a kind of “return of the re pressed”? This event\nbrings together two leading theorists in psycho-poli tical theory to reflect on\npsychic explanations of current authoritarian mobilisations.\n\nHow can psychoanalytic and critical psychological perspe ctives illuminate the\ncontemporary resurgence of authoritarian and anti-d emocratic tendencies?\n\nAlenka Zupančič: Adapting to a New Reality?\n\nWe often hear today that\, as the old world order is collapsing\, we must ad apt to\na new reality. But what exactly does this mean—and\, more importan tly\, what does\nit entail? Jacques Lacan once wrote that we easily ‘adapt to reality. The truth\nwe repress.’ What is the cost of this repression\, and what does it imply for the\nso-called new reality\, or new world orde r? These and other questions will be\ndiscussed from the perspective of wh at many perceive today as a new rise of\nfascism.\n\nHannah Proctor: Autho ritarian Personalities Then and Now\n\nAlberto Toscano’s Late Fascism (202 3) opens with a section on the ‘spectre of\nanalogy’: ‘Those who find them selves living in times of crisis and\ndisorientation often seek shelter an d guidance in analogies’. But the present\,\nhe argues\, should not be mis taken for the past. Following Trump’s first election\nvictory in 2016 ther e was a flurry of interest in historical attempts to\nunderstand the psych ological appeal of fascism from Wilhelm Reich’s Mass\nPsychology of Fascis m to Adorno et al’s The Authoritarian Personality. In this\nlecture Procto r will return to debates about right and left authoritarianism\nfrom the e arly years of the Cold War that raged following the publication of The\nAu thoritarian Personality in 1950\, arguing that while the ideological\ndisc ussions and methodological approach taken by social scientists at that tim e\nare not analogous to the present\, that some of the questions they were asking\nabout the relationship between politics and the psyche are noneth eless worth\nrevisiting in the context of our current conjuncture.\n\n\nSP EAKERS\n\nAlenka Zupančič is a Slovene philosopher and social theorist\, o ne of the\nprominent members of the ‘Ljubljana school of psychoanalysis’. She works as\nResearch Councilor at the Institute of Philosophy\, Scientif ic Research Center of\nthe Slovene Academy of Sciences\, Ljubljana. She is also professor at the\nEuropean Graduate School in Switzerland\, and is g uest lecturer to numerous\nuniversities worldwide. Notable for her work on the intersection of philosophy\nand psychoanalysis\, she is the author of numerous articles and many books\,\nincluding Ethics of the Real: Kant an d Lacan\; The Shortest Shadow: Nietzsche’s\nPhilosophy of the Two\; The Od d One In: On Comedy\; What is Sex?\; Let Them Rot:\nAntigone’s Parallax\; and Disavowal.\n\nHannah Proctor holds a Wellcome University Award at the University of\nStrathclyde in Glasgow. Her second book Burnout: The Emotio nal Experience of\nPolitical Defeat was published by Verso in 2024. She is a member of the Radical\nPhilosophy editorial collective and is a contrib uting editor at Parapraxis. She\nis currently working on two new book proj ects: Communist Cases\, an academic\nmonograph on Cold War era social scie nce in the US for OUP\, and a history of the\nlong 1990s for Verso. She is also interested in revenge.\n\nJana Cattien is Assistant Professor in Soc ial and Political Philosophy at the\nUniversity of Amsterdam\, in the capa city group Philosophy and Public Affairs.\nHer research and teaching is si tuated in continental philosophy (phenomenology\,\npsychoanalysis\, postst ructuralism)\, feminist theory\, critical race theory and\npostcolonial th eory. Her work has been published in journals like Feminist\nTheory\, New German Critique\, Hypatia\, Signs\, and Radical Philosophy.\n\nVeerle van Wijngaarden is a PhD candidate in philosophy at the Amsterdam School\nfor Cultural Analysis\, University of Amsterdam. Her research lies at the\nint ersection of sexual ethics\, feminist philosophy\, and critical theory\, a nd\nfocuses on the problem of sexual subjectivity. In her PhD dissertation \, Change\nWhat You Want? Sexual Subjectivity and the Politics of Desire\, she examines how\nsexual subjects are constituted through relations of re cognition\, vulnerability\,\nand objecthood\, and how these dynamics compl icate dominant frameworks of consent\nand autonomy. URL:https://offbeat.amsterdam/event/psycho-politics-authoritarianism-and-th e-return-of-the-repressed GEO:52.3685931;4.8896879 LOCATION:SPUI25 - Spui 25-27\, 1012 WX Amsterdam STATUS:CONFIRMED CATEGORIES:amsterdam-centrum,books,comedy,discussion,lecture,spui X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:

To what extent can psychoanalysis and criti cal social psychology help us understand the current political conjuncture , where rising fascisms around the world increasingly appear as a kind of “return of the repressed”? This event brings together two leading theorist s in psycho-political theory to reflect on psychic explanations of current authoritarian mobilisations.

How can psychoanalytic and critical psychological perspectives illuminate the contemporary resurgence of auth oritarian and anti-democratic tendencies?

Alenka Zupančič: Adapting to a New Reality?

We often hear today that, as the old world order is collapsing, we must adapt to a new reality. But wha t exactly does this mean—and, more importantly, what does it entail? Jacqu es Lacan once wrote that we easily ‘adapt to reality. The truth we repress .’ What is the cost of this repression, and what does it imply for the so- called new reality, or new world order? These and other questions will be discussed from the perspective of what many perceive today as a new rise o f fascism.

Hannah Proctor: Authoritarian Personalities The n and Now

Alberto Toscano’s Late Fascism (2023) opens with a section on the ‘spectre of analogy’: ‘Those who find themselv es living in times of crisis and disorientation often seek shelter and gui dance in analogies’. But the present, he argues, should not be mistaken fo r the past. Following Trump’s first election victory in 2016 there was a f lurry of interest in historical attempts to understand the psychological a ppeal of fascism from Wilhelm Reich’s Mass Psychology of Fascism to Adorno et al’s The Authoritarian Personality. In this lecture Proctor will return to debates about right and left authoritarianism from the early years of the Cold War that raged following the publication of The Authoritarian Personality in 1950, arguing that while the ideol ogical discussions and methodological approach taken by social scientists at that time are not analogous to the present, that some of the questions they were asking about the relationship between politics and the psyche ar e nonetheless worth revisiting in the context of our current conjuncture.

Speakers

Alenka Zupančič is a Slovene philosopher and social theorist, one of the promin ent members of the ‘Ljubljana school of psychoanalysis’. She works as Rese arch Councilor at the Institute of Philosophy, Scientific Research Center of the Slovene Academy of Sciences, Ljubljana. She is also professor at th e European Graduate School in Switzerland, and is guest lecturer to numero us universities worldwide. Notable for her work on the intersection of phi losophy and psychoanalysis, she is the author of numerous articles and man y books, including Ethics of the Real: Kant and Lacan; The Sh ortest Shadow: Nietzsche’s Philosophy of the Two; The Odd One In: On Comedy; What is Sex?; Let Them Rot: Antigone’s Paral lax; and Disavowal.

Hannah Proctor< /strong> holds a Wellcome University Award at the University of Strathclyd e in Glasgow. Her second book Burnout: The Emotional Experience of Pol itical Defeat was published by Verso in 2024. She is a member of the Radical Philosophy editorial collective and is a contributing editor at Parapraxis. She is currently working on two new book projects: Communist Cases, an academic monograph on Cold War era social science in the US for OUP, and a history of the long 1990s for Verso. She is also interested in revenge.

Jana Cattien is Assistant Professor in Social and Political Philosophy at the University o f Amsterdam, in the capacity group Philosophy and Public Affairs. Her rese arch and teaching is situated in continental philosophy (phenomenology, ps ychoanalysis, poststructuralism), feminist theory, critical race theory an d postcolonial theory. Her work has been published in journals like Fe minist Theory, New German Critique, Hypatia, Si gns, and Radical Philosophy.

Veerle van Wijngaarden is a PhD candidate in philosophy at the Amsterd am School for Cultural Analysis, University of Amsterdam. Her research lie s at the intersection of sexual ethics, feminist philosophy, and critical theory, and focuses on the problem of sexual subjectivity. In her PhD diss ertation, Change What You Want? Sexual Subjectivity and the Politics o f Desire, she examines how sexual subjects are constituted through re lations of recognition, vulnerability, and objecthood, and how these dynam ics complicate dominant frameworks of consent and autonomy.

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