Hating, Abhorring and Wishing to Destroy: Psychoanalytic Essays on the Contemporary Moment (The New Library of Psychoanalysis 'Beyond the Couch' Series)

The kinds of hatreds that analysts have assumed make up part of the unspoken backdrop of Western civilization have now erupted into our daily foreground. This book, consisting of essays from eleven psychoanalysts, responds to that eruption. The five essays of Part 1, “Hating in the first person plural,” take on the pervasive impact of structured forms of hatred – racism, misogyny, homophobia, and transphobia. These malignant forces are put into action by large- and small-group identifications. Even the action of the apparent “lone wolf” inevitably enacts loyal membership in a surrounding community. The hating entity is always “we.” In Part 2, “The racialized object/the racializing subject,” the essays’ focus narrows to an examination of racist expressions of “hating, abhorring, and wishing to destroy.” A particular focus is the state of excitement attached to this form of hatred, to its sadistic origins, and to the endless array of objects offered to the racializing subject. In Part 3, “This land: whose is it, really?,” its two essays focus on symbolic and physical violence targeting the natural world. We expand the traditional field of psychoanalytic inquiry to include the natural world, the symbolic meaning of its “trees,” and the psychopolitical meanings of its land. This book offers a psychoanalytically informed guide to understanding and working against hatreds in clinical work and in everyday life and will appeal to training and experienced psychoanalysts, as well as anyone with an interest in current political and cultural climates. Cover 1 Half Title 4 Series 5 Title 6 Copyright 7 Dedication 8 Contents 10 Acknowledgments 12 Introduction 14 Part 1 Hating in the first person plural 24 1 On hating in the first person plural: thinking psychoanalytically about racism, homophobia, and misogyny 26 2 This is not about Trump: rage, resistance, and the persistence of racism 45 3 First world problems and gated communities of the mind: an ethics of place in psychoanalysis 64 4 Insidious excitement and the hatred of reality 92 5 A composite of King Kong and a suburban barber: revisiting Adorno’s “Freudian theory and the pattern of fascist propaganda” 110 Part 2 The racialized object/the racializing subject 130 6 On having Whiteness 132 7 “When reparation is felt to be impossible”: persecutory guilt and breakdowns in thinking and dialogue about race 148 8 Murderous racism as normal psychosis 171 9 Hunting the real: psychosis and race in the American hospital 195 10 A psychoanalytic contribution to understanding anti-Latino discourse and violence 212 Part 3 This land: whose is it, really? 228 11 Trees and other psychoanalytic matters 230 12 Shame, envy, impasse, and hope: the psychopolitics of violence in South Africa 247 Index 271 hating;,destroy;,psychoanalytic;,political;,cultural;,clinical hating,destroy,psychoanalytic,political,cultural,clinical "The kinds of hatreds that analysts have assumed make up part of the unspoken backdrop of Western civilization have now erupted into our daily foreground. This book, consisting of essays from eleven psychoanalysts, responds to that eruption. The five essays of Section 1, "Hating in the First Person Plural", take on the pervasive impact of structured forms of hatred-- racism, misogyny, homophobia, and transphobia. These malignant forces are put into action by large and small group identifications. Even the action of the apparent "lone wolf" inevitably enacts loyal membership in a surrounding community. The hating entity is always "we". In Section 2, "The Racialized Object/The Racializing Subject", the essays' focus narrows to an examination of racist expressions of "hating, abhorring and wishing to destroy". A particular focus is the state of excitement attached to this form of hatred, to its sadistic origins, and to the endless array of objects offered to the racializing subject. In Section 3, "This Land, whose is it, really?", its two essays focus on symbolic and physical violence targeting the natural world. We expand the traditional field of psychoanalytic inquiry to include the natural world, the symbolic meaning of its "trees", the psycho-political meanings of its land. This book offers a psychoanalytically-informed guide to understanding and working against hatreds in clinical work and in everyday life, and will appeal to training and experienced psychoanalysts, as well as anyone with an interest in current political and cultural climates"-- Provided by publisher