In 'Anti-Oedipus,' Deleuze and Guattari critique the Freudian/Lacanian psychoanalytic model of the ego, particularly the Oedipus complex. They argue that human desire is not rooted in familial relationships but in broader socio-political contexts. The book introduces the concept of 'schizoanalysis,' a method aimed at freeing desire from capitalist and familial repression. It delves into the relationship between capitalism and schizophrenia, suggesting that capitalism exploits and commodifies desires rather than repressing them. The authors propose a radical analysis that synthesizes political economy and psychology, introducing concepts such as desiring-machines, deterritorialization, and the body-without-organs[1][3][4].
Camille Robcis's "Disalienation" explores institutional psychotherapy in postwar France, focusing on Saint-Alban Hospital. The book examines the movement's key thinkers, including their responses to fascism and colonialism. Robcis analyzes the interplay between psychiatric practice and political theory, highlighting the blurring of boundaries between theory and praxis. The work delves into the concepts of alienation, the unconscious, and the political implications of institutional structures. It offers a nuanced historical perspective on the movement's evolution and its lasting relevance.
In 'Black Skin, White Masks,' Frantz Fanon presents a critical analysis of the psychological and social effects of colonialism and racism on black individuals. The book, written in an autoethnographic style, combines Fanon's personal experiences with a historical critique of the dehumanizing impacts of colonial domination. Fanon uses psychoanalysis to explain the feelings of dependency and inadequacy that black people experience, highlighting how colonialism corrupts the psyche of both blacks and whites. He argues that the internalization of white cultural norms leads to a profound inferiority complex among black people and advocates for a rejection of these norms to achieve true self-consciousness and freedom.
In this work, Foucault critiques the historical method and examines how the concept of madness has been understood and treated across different periods. He focuses on the scientific, medical, philosophical, and cultural analyses of madness, highlighting the transition from medieval and humanist experiences to the modern confinement of madness in mental illness. The book also explores the work of early psychiatrists like Philippe Pinel and Samuel Tuke, and it draws on examples from artists and thinkers such as Goya, Nietzsche, Van Gogh, and Artaud to illustrate the creative and liberating forces of madness[1][2][3].
On this episode, J.J. Mull interviews scholar and historian Camille Robcis. In her most recent book, Disalienation: Politics, Philosophy, and Radical Psychiatry in Postwar France (University of Chicago Press, 2021), Robcis grapples with the historical, intellectual, psychiatric and psychoanalytic meaning of institutional psychotherapy as articulated at Saint-Alban Hospital in France by exploring the movement’s key thinkers, including François Tosquelles, Frantz Fanon, Félix Guattari, and Michel Foucault. Anchored in the history of one hospital, Robcis's study draws on a wide geographic context—revolutionary Spain, occupied France, colonial Algeria, and beyond—and charts the movement's place within a broad political-economic landscape, from fascism to Stalinism to postwar capitalism.
J.J. Mull is a poet, training clinician, and graduate student at Smith College School for Social Work currently living in Northampton, MA. He can be reached at jmull@smith.edu.
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