The “return to Fanon” and the foundations of Decolonial Psychoanalysis

Daniel José Gaztambide

Saturday Nov 12, 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM

In this tentpole presentation, Dr. Gaztambide will outline the emergence of a “decolonial turn” in psychoanalysis across contemporary Freudian, relational, and Lacanian traditions in global context. Foregrounded by the work of Martiniquan revolutionary psychiatrist Frantz Fanon and often inspired by him, this emerging framework has engaged in tremendous theoretical development centering the role of race, class, gender, and sexuality in clinical work. However, despite this salubrious theoretical development decolonial psychoanalysis has yet to fully articulate its foundational theory, treatment principles, and distinctive techniques. Hence, this presentation will “return to Fanon” not only as a foundational decolonial theorist, but as a practicing psychoanalytic therapist. Drawing across Fanon’s foundational texts Black Skin, White Masks and the Wretched of the Earth in light of his recently translated clinical papers, Dr. Gaztambide will offer a reconstruction of his theory and technique shedding light on his use of Freud, Ferenczi, and Lacan. Drawing on available and unpublished clinical examples of his work, the presentation will demonstrate Fanon’s psychoanalytic work in ways that serve as a foundation to contemporary decolonial psychoanalysis—as theory and pragmatic practice. In this way, we can begin to identify how decolonial psychoanalysis draws on a comparative psychoanalytic technique that is simultaneously Freudian, relational, and Lacanian, while presenting its own technical innovations for practice today.

CE Credits offered: 2

Course Objectives

After completing this course participants will be able to:

1. articulate Fanon’s clinical practice in the context of his decolonial theorizing.
2. discriminate between techniques for broaching issues of relatedness and techniques for broaching issues of power and identity.
3. integrate how patients view themselves and others with regard to power and positionality alongside their patterns of relatedness in their case formulations.

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The Psychoanalytic Institute of Northern California (PINC) is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. PINC maintains responsibility for this program and its content. Visit pincsf.org/policies for policies and disclaimers.